Unpaid Work

[fiction-factory]

No question- just a comment.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/teen-worked-corner-shop-10-170210102.html#k1mBZMP

This story seems a bit odd to me- I'm surprised someone could work for over 2 months in a shop without receiving any pay before asking about pay

[wolf63]

Strange. There is a cynic in my head questioning the story. You would think that the young lad would have said something. The employer was taking advantage of the lad.

One day a newspaper will print all the facts in an unbiased way.

[Svejk]

mmm, very odd, ff. Some kind of scam. Whether by the shop, the boy's family or a joint enterprise, I wouldn't like to say.

[B00]

Love this bit...

" The law says he’s not allowed to work and because we sell alcohol, he’s not allowed in lots of areas, but he is allowed to follow people around.” "

Not creepy in the slightest! LOL

[Tilly2]

Well, I won't be donating to the fundraising website.

[mikey4444]

Internship ?....in a corner shop ?

Its obviously unfair to this lad, although his Mum should perhaps have ironed out the major issue of pay before he started.

[Hopkirk]

That's it, I'm never going to use that shop.

[ummmm]

Maybe he wasn't collecting his wages so he wouldn't be tempted to spend it.

It doesn't actually surprise me that some people would try to take advantage of a teenager in this way.

[Peter Pedant]

Poor kid I feel so sorry for the adolescents who are desperate for "work" and ignore the danger signs ( wasnt asked for his NI number or tax code, was he ? )

and yes it does happen - my brudda "worked" for Films and FIlming in the seventies without a contract and was told after eight weeks that he was on column inch rate and offered twenty quid ( for two months ) .

wind forward to the millenial solar eclipse - those hired as stewards for the events in Cornwall ( alcohol and drug soaked ) were told that there wasnt the money to pay them afterwards. Someone had the same thought as me and wrote to the Times saying the organisers must have known this at the time ( = were trading whilst insolvent, which is a crime and a fraud on existing creditors )

I feel so sorry for the willing kids and it teaches the the wrong lessons early on in life - to wit it is OK to take advantage or screw people younger or less able than you
or indeed it is absolutely OK to mislead someone to work for youand then say there is no pay in this

not lessons we should be teaching the young .....

[ummmm]

He's 15, PP, he won't have an NI number.

[fiction-factory]

Yes, I did a day's work once through an agency and when i queried after a couple of weeks why on this occasion I hadn't received any pay for it I was told it had been a 'trial day' - so I wasn't best pleased as that was news to me.
In this case though the lad did know it was starting as unpaid work experience- people still at school do that quite often- and the shop owner is implying the lad didn't do any work just

[Mamyalynne]

Well, the money is rolling in...


http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/12/08/teen-works-for-10-weeks-in-corner-shop-pay-christmas-told-volunteer_n_8747144.html


Not sure what to think here really.

[fiction-factory]

Sorry- had to submit before the end as the text started to go backwards!

just... followed people around

[New Judge]

Like Mikey I find the notion of working part time in a corner shop being described as an “internship” somewhat amusing.

The boy’s “employers” and his parents need to read up on the rules employing children:



The law does not say that those aged 15 cannot work. They may do so, subject to a number of conditions. One of those conditions falls foul of this:

“He always made the effort to be there on time and worked way past 9pm, which was the time we agreed.”

Someone aged 15 may not work before 7am or after 7pm.

It seems likely that this boy may have been “helping out” in the same way that many of those seeking asylum (and thus prohibited from working) “help out” at their local curry house. (At least that's what they say when spotted by immigration officials in full chef’s whites or up to their elbows in greasy water).

The shopkeeper probably believed that by sticking to that contention the rules on employing young people were not applicable.

[Peter Pedant]

Huffer:

'she has done this before ....' O god Londis thinks: where's the next sucker ?

[New Judge]

"Well, the money is rolling in...

Is there no limit to people's gullibility?

[Peter Pedant]

Presumably if she made it clear that she wouldnt pay them
she would never get anyone to help out

and that isnt any good is it ?

[fiction-factory]

Thanks for the link Mamyalynne. The story still doesn't quite stack up to me- he says he wasted 45 hours working there and yet in the other article his mum said he worked nearly every day in the half term holidays and he says he had been working after school until 9.30pm, so after 10 weeks I'd have thought it was at least 100 hours.
Maybe I'm too protective as a parent but I'd have sought clarity about pay before allowing a child to spend so much time there instead of doing homework.
The shop owner does seem to have form though. I'm not sure anyone comes out of this well, apart from possibly the lad who was simply naive- unless there is much more to this story than we know now.
Family friends? I wonder if they are now- or maybe everyone's a winner as teh money comes in.

[Jackdaw33]

You would have thought that if the owner had any concern for her business she would have made an ex gratia payment.

[Mamyalynne]

Feels wrong, doesn't it?