Employment at 16

[Sue Balou]

My nephew is 16 and just done his GCSEs but is going to do A levels. He wanted a job for the summer holidays. My husband has got him a job where he works - he is a warehouse/distribution manager. The job is in the warehouse, picking stock for orders. Nephew started today and now HR are saying he may be too young to work in the warehouse, although they knew about this more than 2 months ago.
Is there an age restriction for working in a warehouse? It's not a big warehouse, about 5,000 sq ft and the products and not dangerous or heavy, although there are a couple of forklift trucks (which he won't use). Is there an employment law about this?

Thanks

[choski]

Hi Sue not too sure about employment law but I think that in certain places of work the insurance they have may not cover workers under 18.

This may be the most probable reason but I would suggest asking the HR department what the specific reason is for them having a problem working there or maybe Citizens advice bureau?