Article 161 of the Saudi Labor Law

This article opens Part Ten of the Labor Law on the employment of juveniles, and sets a basic protection rule: an employer may not employ a juvenile in any hazardous work or harmful industry, nor in any occupation or work likely to expose his health, safety or morals to danger.

Note that the article prohibits work in two cases:

• Because of the nature of the work itself: that is, the work is hazardous or harmful in itself.
• Because of the conditions in which it is performed: work may be ordinary in itself, but the conditions of performing it (such as the environment, the place or the people around) make it a threat to the juvenile's health, safety or morals.

The protection is also not limited to the physical side; the article expressly mentions health, safety and morals, which widens the scope of the prohibition to include work that may affect the juvenile's behavior or upbringing even if it is not physically dangerous.

So that the prohibition does not remain general and vague, the article entrusts the Minister with issuing a decision specifying the work, industries and occupations covered. An employer should therefore refer to this decision before assigning any work to a juvenile, noting that the text of the article itself also prohibits any work likely to cause this danger by its nature or conditions.

This article complements Article 162, which prevents employing anyone who has not completed fifteen years of age or allowing him to enter workplaces, and which allows the Minister, as an exception, to permit those aged between 13 and 15 to work in light work provided it does not harm their health or development or interrupt their schooling. Article 162 determines who may be employed in terms of age, while Article 161 determines which work a juvenile is prohibited from doing even if he has reached the permitted age.

In practice, if a juvenile or his guardian feels that the work assigned to him exposes him to danger, he can refer to the ministerial decision regulating such work, or consult a lawyer specialized in labor cases to assess the situation.