Unpaid work experience and employment rights

paulac

Hiya,

I'm curious about what rights (if any) people have when they're on unpaid work experience! I did a course in employment law and a friend is thinking of taking someone on in an unpaid position for a few weeks and asked me about this and to be honest I haven't a clue! It wasn't something that we covered and I can't find much info on the net!

I mean should they get a written document with their hours of work, the expected duration of the placement, duties, would they be entitled to breaks (I'm assuming absolutely yes but unpaid of course) and what about annual leave?? Can someone on unpaid work experience build up 'free' days?

I want to make sure that everything is done properly and thats there's no way that she can end up in trouble or in the labour court for doing this!!!

Any advice or experience would be appreciated!!

Thanks

the_syco

Assume she was getting paid, she'd get a 15 minute break for every... what? Four hours, is it? And she'd get X amount of days a year off work. IMO, same rights, except now the intern doesn't get paid. May I ask what sector is this in, and is the person on the WPP scheme?

paulac

Hiya, thanks for the response! Its a small business, a photography studio and no she won't be looking for someone through the wpp scheme