Working hours for my teen DS

[FooFightersFan]

DS is 17. Just started working at a local independent restaurant in their kitchen. He’s just got home after starting his shift at 5pm. It’s almost midnight. Judging by the time it takes him to get home, I’d say he finished around 11:30.

He’s due back in again at 10am for a shift until 5pm tomorrow.

This seems wrong to me. He’s due back in work 9.5 hours after he’s finished a shift.

Anyone know if this is normal? Legal? Or am I being ‘precious’?

Sorry I meant he’s due back 10.5 hours after finishing his shift.
it’s late and I can’t add up

If he’s only 17 then it needs to be at least 12 hours between shifts. Get him to speak to the manager. They might have to manually adjust his shifts.

Sorry, just realised you said it’s a small place. I was assuming something like Tescos or the like. Probably the manager doesn’t know so he might need to point it out to them.

Yes supposed to have 12 hour rest between hours.

Thanks for the replies.
The thing is, I can’t see him confronting the manager. He’s 17. A kid. Doesn’t want to upset anyone.
I’d love to speak to the manger on behalf of DS. But I’m not the employee.

he’s meant to have more rest time but teens looking for jobs are 10 a penny, he’ll be soon replaced if it’s too much work for him

He doesn’t need to confront the manager. He just needs to have a conversation with him, which presumably he does when getting his shifts anyway.

Assuming these are not regular shifts, when he gets his next shifts he can just say “can we move this one to start later? There’s only 10 hours between them and it should be at least 12 at my age.”

Does he mind? I worked all hours as a teen, double shifts and then back at 9am
the next day. I didn’t mind as I wanted the cash. I wish my DM had encouraged me to work less and pay more attention to my studies though.

I think part of the point of having a job at his age is learning to navigate these things himself, so it's definitely not your place to speak to his boss.

In your position I would plant a seed, just mention matter of factly that you're surprised about his shift times, because they're illegal, maybe follow it up with a link to the gov.uk page about it. Let him know you're happy to give practical advice if he wants it and then see what happens. Maybe notice how he's getting on and comment if he seems to be overly tired, to reinforce?

What does your son want to do about it?

I’ve reported the troll.

But I’m tired so I’m going to sleep now. thanks for replies tho

Those sound like the hours I used to do when I was his age. I’d often work until midnight, then be back in to start prep for lunch service the next day at the weekend. Maybe consider retail - high street not supermarkets - or a coffee shop if you don’t want him working those hours.

17? I would have done similar shifts in the local pub from when I was 14. Unless he is struggling and too tired is there actually a problem? The law about having to have at least 12 hours between shifts has always seemed a load of nonsense to me, but then again I worked in hospitality and ran a pub for several years, where the reality is it’s often necessary to have less than 12 hours between shifts, unless you have an endless supply of staff. If the shifts themselves aren’t very long and it’s not day in day out for weeks I really don’t see an issue.

Also, is it possible he finished earlier and met up with friends etc? That was something I sometimes did at his age too - then I’d go home and make out that work had just finished.