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Special category employees
Last updated June 2015
This chapter explains your employment obligations in relation to trainees, pieceworkers, employees with disabilities, children and junior employees.
What are special category employees?
Different obligations apply in relation to employing particular types of employees, known as ‘special category employees’, compared with ordinary employees.
Special category employees are those who:
- you have a training contract with as well as an employment contract, i.e. apprentices or trainees;
- are paid a piece rate, known as pieceworkers;
- have a disability; or
- are under a particular age, i.e. child employees protected by child employment legislation or junior employees.
Caution: If you contravene the statutory provisions applicable to these employees, you are likely to attract civil liability or, in the case of child employment legislation, criminal liability.
Tip: Your obligations to unpaid workers, such as volunteers, interns and vocational placement students, also differ from your obligations to regular employees and the special category employees listed above.