Law on allowing children from the age of 14 to work after school

With the consent of one of the parents

The State Duma immediately adopted in the second and third readings a law that will simplify the procedure for the employment of children over the age of 14: the permission of one of the parents or the guardian will be enough, the consent of the guardianship authorities will be required only if we are talking about orphans. Those who voted “yes” believe that “de-bureaucratization” will save children from boredom and “certain vices”, while those who voted “no” believe that children will work to the detriment of learning and development.

Speaking on behalf of the relevant Committee on Labor and Social Policy, one of the authors of the initiative, Ekaterina Stenyakina (ER), reminded the deputies that it was only about “simplification of the procedure”, about “de-bureaucratization”. Indeed, even now the Labor Code allows hiring adolescent students from the age of 14: the main thing is that work should be “easy”, not harmful to health, and you can work in your free time, “without prejudice to basic education”. But in order for everything to be legal, it is required to provide written consent from one of the parents and the guardianship and guardianship authorities. So, when the law adopted today comes into force, the permission of the guardianship authorities will not be required – the consent of one of the parents or trustees (that is, guardians) will be enough.

By the second reading, several semantic amendments were made to the text, and the number of articles of the Labor Code subject to adjustment was reduced from four to one. Ms. Stenyakina said that the employment of orphans and children left without parental care who have reached the age of 14 will be possible only with the written consent of the guardianship and guardianship authority “or other legal representative.” The initial plans to exempt employers who want to take children to work from the mandatory preliminary medical examination at their own expense to study the question of whether a particular child is able to perform this work without harm to health were abandoned: in this part everything will remain as it is now.

Ms. Stenyakina assured that all the comments of the Commissioner for Children’s Rights under the President of the Russian Federation and the government were taken into account.

The head of the Duma Committee on Family, Women and Children, Nina Ostanina (KPRF), acknowledged that the bill had improved by the second reading and removed some of the fears of opponents of its adoption. But she nevertheless suggested that it be written that the shift consent of the guardianship authorities for employment is necessary for all children – both those who have parents and those who have trustees: “I understand the degree of distrust in the guardianship authorities, but we are talking about an institute, which can provide preventive protection for children. And sometimes 10-15 children are brought up in foster families, and it’s no secret that the work of foster children is often cruelly exploited,” she said. If such an addition is made, there will be no bureaucracy, and “archaic documents” from the guardianship authorities in the presence of parents or legal representatives are “really redundant,” Ms. Stenyakina replied.

Ms. Ostanina positively assessed the retention of the mandatory preliminary medical examination, but expressed regret that the amendment that “children’s work is possible only during vacation time” was not supported. “The bill is primarily driven by the desire of children to work, and we help both employers and teenagers to spend their time with dignity, and not to do various incomprehensible things,” said Ms. Stenyakina.

Another author of the initiative, Mikhail Kiselev, speaking on behalf of the United Russia faction, said that “on Children’s Day, we must save children from boredom, because it can lead to certain vices that the street hides.”

“Yes, the law has improved somewhat,” admitted Oleg Nilov (“SR”), but this is not enough for the faction of the Right Russians to support it. According to him, “there remains child labor in capitalist enterprises, some kind of unchecked markets, in stalls where there is no order and no proper control even over the work of adults, and sending children there can be simply dangerous.” According to the deputy, “if children vegetate from boredom, it is better to give them the opportunity to go to circles and sections for free”, and “if a child works four hours after school, this cannot be without prejudice to the program: what about homework? What about electives?

The new rules for the employment of children will come into force from the moment they are published, that is, almost immediately after the law is approved by the Federation Council and signed by the president.

Published in the newspaper “Moskovsky Komsomolets” No. 29042 dated June 2, 2023

Newspaper headline:
Difficult childhood