The Killarney Summer Job: €9 An Hour, No Contract, Two Unpaid Shifts

Clearly unlawful:

1. The pay rate. At 17 she is entitled to the under-18 rate of the national minimum wage - 70% of the full rate. With the full rate at €13.50 (2025), that is €9.45, so €9.00 is below the legal minimum. She cannot agree to waive it; a contract term paying below the minimum is void. Check the rate in force each year, because it changes in January - but the 70% rule for under-18s is the reliable part.
2. The hours and rest. Under the Protection of Young Persons (Employment) Act 1996, a 17-year-old is a 'young person': generally a maximum 40-hour week, a maximum 8-hour day, a prohibition on night work between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., and 14 hours' continuous rest in every 24. Finishing at 1 a.m. and starting at 7 a.m. gives six hours - a clear breach.
3. The timing of the contract. She is entitled to her core terms of employment in writing within five days of starting, and the full statement within one month. 'Paperwork after the first month' is wrong: the core terms should come almost immediately.
4. The breaks. Under the Organisation of Working Time Act she is entitled to a 15-minute break after 4.5 hours worked and 30 minutes after 6 hours (these may be unpaid). A break 'when the rooms are done' is not an entitlement she can rely on.

Depends on the facts:

1. The two unpaid trial shifts. A trial shift is lawful only if it is genuinely a short selection exercise. Two full shifts cleaning rooms is real work producing real value for the hotel and must be paid at the minimum rate - it is not a trial.

Practical red flag: being asked to work before anything exists in writing.

Before Monday - get it in writing without picking a fight.

1. Send a short, friendly message or email: confirm the start date, the rate, the hours and the rota, and ask for the written terms before the first shift. Written communication creates a record and is much easier than a confrontation.
2. Raise the rate factually, not emotionally: 'I'm 17, so my rate is 70% of the minimum wage - €9.45. Can we confirm that on the contract?' Most managers simply do not know the age bands; framing it as a question rather than an accusation keeps the offer alive.
3. Do not do the unpaid shifts as proposed. Offer to do one short, shadowing session, or ask for them to be paid at the correct rate. If the hotel will not pay for productive work, that is information she needs before she starts, not after.
4. Do not sign anything she does not understand, and keep a copy of everything she does sign.

During the first weeks:

• Record her own hours daily - start, finish, breaks - in a notebook or phone note. This is the single most useful piece of evidence if a dispute arises.
• Keep every payslip; she is entitled to a written statement of pay and deductions.
• Photograph the rota each week, so the 1 a.m. to 7 a.m. turnaround is documented.
• Escalate in order: raise it with the manager first, in person or in writing; then a parent or the teacher responsible for work experience; then a complaint to the Workplace Relations Commission, which generally must be made within six months.

The balance to strike: she should not simply refuse to turn up for rostered hours without notice, but she is entitled to refuse unlawful night work. Asking for day shifts on Saturday is a reasonable, low-conflict request.

The advice is understandable and partly right - but wrong as a general rule in this case.

What the friend gets right:

• Summer work in a tourist town is genuinely scarce in July, and turning down an offer has a real cost.
• A first job builds a reference, confidence and evidence for the work-experience section of the portfolio.
• Not every imperfection in an offer is worth a fight; a new employee who arrives arguing about everything can be managed out.

Why the advice fails here:

1. These are not marginal breaches. Paying below the legal minimum and rostering a 17-year-old on six hours' rest are not bargaining points - the rest rule is a safety rule, and a tired teenager cleaning rooms and handling chemicals is a genuine hazard.
2. 'Take it' and 'fix it' are not opposites. She can accept the job and still correct the pay rate and the rota. Accepting the offer does not mean accepting every term.
3. The cost of silence compounds. A pattern of unpaid trial shifts and undocumented hours established in week one is much harder to unpick in August, and she will have no record to rely on.
4. The scarcity argument is weakest where it matters most. If this hotel is short-staffed in July, it needs her more than the friend assumes - which is exactly when a polite request is likely to succeed.

The judgement: pick the battles that matter. Fix the pay rate and get the contract in writing - both are clear-cut and cheap to resolve. Ask for day shifts on Saturday; if the night rota is genuinely non-negotiable, that is a reason to look elsewhere or to ask for a different role, not a reason to accept unlawful hours. Supporting her to raise it calmly is better advice than 'just take it'.