Minors and Youth
Minimum Age for Employment
What is the relevant legislation on the minimum age for employment?
The Decent Work Act and Children’s Law are the relevant legislation on the minimum age for employment in Liberia.
What is the minimum age to enter into employment?
The minimum age to enter into full-time employment is 15. No person shall employ or allow a child under the age of 15 to be engaged in full-time work.
Does the law prohibit employment of children under the age of 15 years (14 years for low-income and lower-middle-income economies)?
Child means a person under the age of 18. Under the Decent Work Act, no person shall employ, or allow a child under the age of 15 years to be employed in full-time employment.
What are the exceptions that are allowed with regard to the minimum age for entry into employment?
A child who is at least 13 years old may be employed to perform light work (light work means work or any other activity that is not likely to be harmful to a child's health or safety, moral or material welfare or development; and is not such as to prejudice the child's attendance at school or their capacity to benefit from instruction) for maximum of two hours in a day and fourteen hours in a week.
Working hours for children under the age of 16 have been reduced to 7 hours on any day and 42 hours per week. Daily working hours include rest periods of at least 60 minutes. The annual leave for children employees is equivalent to the number of working days in one week.
What is the compulsory education age in the country?
(in years)
The Education Reform Act provides that early childhood programs shall be from 3 to five 5 years, and full-time formal schooling children from age 6 to a 12 (constituting grades 1-6), shall be free and compulsory for all children of the age range for such school level, and shall be free for all pupils within the public school system.
A person commits a second-degree felony if they subject a child to harmful or hazardous work or engage in practices that violate or endanger the child's bodily integrity, life, health, dignity, education, welfare, or holistic development.
Sources: §1.4, 21.2, 21.3 & 21.5 of the Decent Work Act, 2015; §4.4.1 of the Liberia’s Education reform Act, 2011; §16.15 of the Children’s Law of Liberia, 2011
Minimum Age for Hazardous Work
Does the law prohibit the employment of children in hazardous work under the age of 18 years?
The minimum age for hazardous work is 18 years.
Is overtime work prohibited under the age of 18?
For children under 16, employment is limited to a maximum of 7 hours per day or 42 hours per week, with daily work schedules including rest breaks totalling at least one hour to ensure that no child works more than four consecutive hours without a break. Additionally, working long hours, during the night, or in conditions where the child is unreasonably confined to the employer’s premises is prohibited.
What is the relevant legislation on the minimum age for hazardous work?
The Decent Work Act and Children’s Law are the relevant legislations regarding the minimum age for hazardous work.
What is the minimum age for hazardous work?
The minimum age for hazardous work is 18 years. The Children’s Law defines a child as any person below the age of 18 years.
Does the law prohibit the employment of children in hazardous work under the age of 18 years?
Working for long hours is prohibited for children in the Liberian Decent Work Act. Children under the age of 13 are permitted only to perform light work, and any work deemed hazardous is defined as having the inherent potential to cause injury or harm to health, which is strictly prohibited. The law explicitly forbids employing a child in any work that, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to jeopardize their health, safety, or welfare.
Furthermore, individuals under 18 must not be employed in occupations that expose them to hazardous substances, such as silica dust, asbestos, lead fumes, and other dangerous chemicals, including those that may affect reproductive health.
Is night work prohibited under the age of 18?
Night work is considered hazardous work and is prohibited for children.
Other types of hazardous work prohibited for adolescent/young workers?
Other types of hazardous work that are prohibited for young/adolescent workers include:
- Work that exposes children to physical, psychological, or sexual abuse.
- Work that is underground, underwater, at dangerous heights, or in closed and confined places.
- Work involving dangerous machinery, equipment, tools, manual handling, or transport of goods and materials.
- When work is done in such a hazardous environment that exposes children to dangerous substances, agent processes, temperatures, noise levels, or vibrations that are detrimental to their health.
- When work is inappropriate for a child’s age, health, educational, emotional, or physical development.
In general, the law establishes standards for exposure to physical, biological, chemical, and psychological hazards, and mandates that the Minister, with guidance from the National Tripartite Council, develop and regularly review a national occupational safety and health programme.
This programme is designed to minimize work-related risks and prevent injuries, diseases, and deaths while promoting workplace safety.
Sources: § 2.3, 21.3, 21.4, 21.5, 29.2 &29.3 of the Decent Work Act, 2015; §1 (Section 3) and 7 (Section 9.1) of the Children’s Law of 2011
Regulations on Minors and Youth
- Decent Work Act, 2015
- Liberia’s Education Reform Act, 2011
- Children’s Law of the Republic of Liberia, 2011
