Catalogue firm admits it hired children without required permits
Ive Distributions has admitted to hiring over 300 children under the age of 15 without employment permits.
The catalogue distribution firm pleaded guilty at the Melbourne Magistrates' Court to 318 counts of breaking Victoria's child employment laws.
It employed the children between July and September 2022 without child employment permits required, according to the Wage Inspectorate Victoria.
The children involved were between 11 and 14 years of age, the watchdog said, pointing out that it was a case that "concerned the employment of more children than any previous child employment matter in Victoria."
Honour Magistrate Gattuso ruled that the firm's non-compliance was not deliberate but a result of ignorance.
The firm did not undertake due diligence in the case, according to Gattuso, despite an obligation to be aware of the laws in the jurisdictions they operate.
Ive Distributions is now placed on an undertaking to be of good behaviour for three years, with the condition that it pay $4,000 to the court fund and another $3,000 in costs.
Victoria's child employment law
Robert Hortle, commissioner of Wage Inspectorate Victoria, said he was "gobsmacked" that Ive Distributions didn't look into the state's child employment laws before hiring children.
"If you're hiring kids as young as 11, I'd like to think you'd do your due diligence and ensure you do so legally," Hortle said in a statement.
"In this instance, Ive Distributions hasn't engaged with child employment laws despite some of the children doing the work being primary school age."
In Victoria, businesses that want to employ someone under 15 years old need to get a child employment permit or licence. This aims to protect the child's overall health and wellbeing and ensures that the employer is aware about its obligations for supervision, rest breaks, and working hours.
In Ive Distribution's case, the alarm was first raised by a concerned parent who "felt something was a little off."
"They let the Wage Inspectorate know and we sprang into action and found an unprecedented number of kids employed without a permit," Hortle said.
It was just luck that no child was harmed when they were employed under the catalogue distribution firm, according to the commissioner.
"But businesses shouldn't rely on luck," he said. "Engaging with the Wage Inspectorate before employment commences is both common sense and a legal obligation."
