Exploiting Teenagers

[justine]

Ok so we can take another spin off of a thread, how do you feel about people who exploit teenagers in a working inviroment, volunteering enviroment.

Take an example teens leaves school, is looking for a job, does not want to claim benefit and an opportunity arises and they think yep this is for me, only to find that they are expected to do all hours for nothing. If they tried to get benefit because they were not being paid, would not be able to claim as they are doing more than so many hours voluntry work. Now i understand that if you do recieve benefits and do training you get paid for it, so where does the exploitation of youngsters stop..

Any opinions on this.

[Margaret M.]

I am not really clear on what you mean. If they are working for nothing while they are learning to do something that will help them get a paying job, I would not call that exploitation.

[router]

If the teen already has the experience and has done a two year course on it, then it should be classed as work experience then yes they should be paid.They could not go to a benefit office in the mean time to get money, and say im sorry i need job seekers allowance to get me to my voluntary place of work, as i volunteer my services so many hours a week for nothing, but i am too busy to work, where do they stand. They have no income from anyone.
Even a proper training position in the job centre is paid for, so why should they not be paid for further training as you see it..

[Kathy@watten]

Really depends if this is to be a job where the person getting the service benefits if they do indeed make money from the services provided then I agree the teen/person should be paid, but on the other hand if the person doing the volentary position derives enjoyment or recreation doing so there is no need for a payment and they should not put themselves forward to such an agreement if this is soley their aim. Having been on the pointed end of this stick sometimes a frank conversation can sort most queries and issues can be resolved before things get out of hand....good skill to have and a quality that should be learnt. Honesty being most important and flexibility on both parties if a position is unpaid to allow for alternative employments and or appointments.

[justine]

If a teen offers themselves up for an opportunity in something they like, then yes thats ok, but when they give more than is expected then should they not be rewarded for this. Adults dont do overtime for nothing they expect to be paid accordingly.Opportunities come and go for many people everyday, and as adults they choosewhat they think is best but teenagers tend to do more because they want to show off what they can do, without question..They get asked to do more and they will, because its the nature of teens.I see it as only fair that that should be regarded by any employer, or opportunity offerer, as someone who qualifies for a payment for hours and training. As has been stated, many teens get paid for training to better themselves.

[Venture]

Firstly you say they want to be a volunteer and do not want to claim benefits. Then you say they want to claim benefits but they can't because they do too many hours volunteering. This dosen't make sense to me. The volunteer surely is in control of how many hours they volunteer their services for. If you want to do extra hours as a volunteer then that's your choice but it dosen't mean that the employer should pay you for it. At the end of the day voluntary work is unpaid work.