Hiring students for part-time weekend or evening shifts is common in F&B and retail — and it's covered by a completely separate piece of legislation from the main Employment Act.
Two categories, two rulebooks
The Children and Young Persons (Employment) Act 1966 distinguishes between a "child" (generally under 15) and a "young person" (generally 15 to under 18), with meaningfully different restrictions on each. Children face much tighter restrictions on the type and hours of permitted work; young persons have more scope but still face real limits a normal adult roster wouldn't.
Hours and timing restrictions
Young persons are generally restricted from working late-night hours (commonly cited around a late-evening to early-morning cutoff), and face daily and weekly maximum hour limits below the standard adult 8-hour/45- hour baseline. A closing shift that's routine for adult staff may simply not be legally available to a 17-year-old team member.
Written parental/guardian consent
Employing a young person generally requires the consent of a parent or guardian, and in some cases registration or approval processes apply depending on the type of work. This is a real, separate paperwork step beyond the normal onboarding checklist for adult hires.
Why this matters for shift rostering specifically
If your team includes any staff under 18 — common for part-time weekend retail or F&B roles — the roster needs a separate, explicit check for their shifts: not just "are they available," but "is this shift even legally permitted for their age." Auto-scheduling systems built only around adult rules will get this wrong by default.
The practical takeaway
Flag any staff member under 18 in your records explicitly, confirm you have written guardian consent on file, and double-check that their rostered hours and shift timing fall within the young-person limits, not just the standard adult ones.