Employers must ensure legal compliance in hiring teens: DC

Shimla Deputy Commissioner Anupam Kashyap today stressed that adolescents between 14 and 18 years of age can only be engaged in non-hazardous work and for not more than five hours a day. He was chairing a meeting of the District-Level Vigilance Committee, convened to review bonded labour cases and deliberate on issues of prevention, identification, and rehabilitation.

Highlighting the provisions of the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, the DC reiterated that employment of children below 14 years is strictly prohibited in all occupations. He made it clear that employers must transfer the wages of adolescent workers directly into their bank accounts, as cash payments would be treated as violations. He also underlined that employers are bound to provide minimum wages along with all essential facilities.

Kashyap further noted that under Section 9(A) of the Act, employers are required to inform the Labour Officer before hiring any adolescent worker. He directed officials to compile reliable data on adolescents engaged in labour within the district and conduct regular reviews of the facilities being extended to them. Surprise inspections, particularly at road construction projects, were ordered to assess ground realities and working conditions.