Teen Worked In Shop For 10 Weeks To Afford Christmas Presents-Told He’s Unpaid Intern

MilesMorales1

A teenager who spent 10 weeks before and after school working in a shop to save up for Christmas has been told he won’t be getting paid.

Jay El-Leboudy, 15, had been working mornings and evenings in his local Londis for over two months in a bid to save up for gifts for his family.

However, when he came to collect his overdue wages he was told by the boss that he wouldn’t be getting them – as he was on unpaid work experience.

Furious mum Zoe Buckwell said the store’s owners – who were family friends – had arranged an internship with the view of taking him on part time.

She says he had been working two days a week at the shop in Canterbury, Kent, since.

She told The Canterbury Times: “Jay worked nearly every day during half term.
"He was hoping to have his money in time to buy Christmas presents.”

One of the stores owners told the paper he had never agreed a wage.

He said: “I said to her [Jay’s mother] that he’s only 15. 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.”

https://news.yahoo.com/teen-who-worked-in-corner-shop-for-10-weeks-to-170210642.html

Man thats really ****ty. He might not have agreed a wage or whatever, but I bet it was implied, and that shop owners just chancing his arm. Even if the kid is too young for work, surely bunging him a few quid won't kill them.


*waits for the inevitable job bridge comparison*

Duggy747

If he needed unpaid work experience to stack shelves then the boss should've just told him to go home and play Tetris.

Menas

WTF like?
Poor kid gets a hard early lesson on what nasty shytes people can be.
Hopefully the kid gets his dues.

osarusan

Naughty show owners, although in fairness, this would suggest that actually hiring him would be illegal:

The boss of the store, who does not want to be named, said they do not have to pay the teen, because Jay was allowed free hot drinks.

He said: "I said to her [Jay's mother] that he's only 15. 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.

"I have had in the past someone come in and take things in their bag.

"So in his case I had to take trust with the fact I know the parents and his grandfather.

"I treat all my staff like family, I said he's allowed to eat and drink whatever he likes.

"If he turned up after school and he was hungry, I'd say he could have a coffee.

I gave her the fact that because he's not got a national insurance number he would not be allowed any sort of payment or anything from me.

"I need to tell the tax people. When he's 16 he would be allowed payment if there was a vacancy and if things work out."

It may all work out though:

After learning he wouldn't be getting any money, Zoe started a fundraising page to help fund Jay's Christmas shopping - which has already received more than £100.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/teen-told-10-week-shop-6968075

The Sun King

I thought it was fairly common courtesy to hand the young fella or girl an envelope with a few quid in it on the last day of work experience.

petes

"If he turned up after school and he was hungry, I'd say he could have a coffee."

That would fill your belly!!

The Sun King

The Sun King wrote: »

I thought it was fairly common courtesy to hand the young fella or girl an envelope with a few quid in it on the last day of work experience.

Also common courtesy to not get the papers involved when you're insulting a shop owner for not breaking the law.

MilesMorales1

Deleted User wrote: »

Also common courtesy to not get the papers involved when you're insulting a shop owner for not breaking the law.

Well law or not, its a pretty ****ty thing to do.

The Sun King

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Also common courtesy to not get the papers involved when you're insulting a shop owner for not breaking the law.

Not breaking the law, but still being a tight git. Throw the kid 150euro even and be done with it.

I'd like to know the misers in my area, whatever the "well technically.." crowd have to say about it.

conorhal

The Sun King wrote: »

I thought it was fairly common courtesy to hand the young fella or girl an envelope with a few quid in it on the last day of work experience.

I agree, that's seriously stingy. The kid seems however to be under the impression he was in paid employment rathere then a work experience gig, so I kind of wonder why it never occured to him to ask when it was pay day or what his hourly rate was. It was a bit dim or timid or both not to ask such basic questions.

Summer wind

The shop owner should be shot with a ball of his own ****e.

The Sun King

conorhal wrote: »

I agree, that's seriously stingy. The kid seems however to be under the impression he was in paid employment rathere then a work experience gig, so I kind of wonder why it never occured to him to ask when it was pay day or what his hourly rate was. It was a bit dim or timid or both not to ask such basic questions.

Agreed. As a teenager doing work experience you should expect nothing, as that's what the gig involves. However you shouldn't go away empty handed, expected or not, as a gesture even.

The Sun King

The Sun King wrote: »

I thought it was fairly common courtesy to hand the young fella or girl an envelope with a few quid in it on the last day of work experience.

I think 10 weeks in a shop is a little more than work experience.

lertsnim

The shop owner is a dick. An internship in a supermarket? Give over. Instead of giving the lad a couple of hundred he now has the bad publicity. Well played sir. Why would the child work 10 weeks without pay and not think something was wrong?

purplepanda

Since when is it illegal for a 15 year old to work (as in get a paid wage) in a grocers shop? Myself & most of my 14 -15 year old friends done much the same in Bakers, Butchers, Grocers, even Woolworths & Tescos, some even got jobs when they left school at 16! Yes most kids actually left as they could get jobs! :eek:

This was the early '80's & I don't remember the law being changed? :rolleyes:

ballsymchugh

AdamD wrote: »

I think 10 weeks in a shop is a little more than work experience.

according to this, he worked about 8 hours a week (2 nights, from 5 to 9)

http://m.canterburytimes.co.uk/Outrage-Canterbury-teen-works-unpaid-weeks/story-28299469-detail/story.html

it really does just look like work experience at that rate.

_Brian

15YO's must be getting soft.

Time to stick a brick through the shop window.

The Sun King

At least this guy got some valid experience through the work.

He learned that he should work his bollix off in school to avoid having to work for one of these gits later in life.

ballsymchugh

his mother has set up a gofundme page.

of all the causes that are online, i'm thinking although he might have got screwed over, why would anyone contribute to a 15 year old's Christmas fund?
she obviously wants something decent from him.

Son Of A Vidic

In a world where kids are being directed toward self obsessed narcissism and getting the next best selfie shot. Here we have a young lad with a sense of responsibility and a maturity & willingness to get of his ass and put in the work. It's the kind of qualities we should welcome and promote in younger kids. It's just unfortunate that he has probably met his first real kunt in life. No law may have been broken, but putting a few pound into his hand is what most decent people would have done.

SEPT 23 1989

purplepanda wrote: »

Since when is it illegal for a 15 year old to work (as in get a paid wage) in a grocers shop? Myself & most of my 14 -15 year old friends done much the same in Bakers, Butchers, Grocers, even Woolworths & Tescos, some even got jobs when they left school at 16! Yes most kids actually left as they could get jobs! :eek:

This was the early '80's & I don't remember the law being changed? :rolleyes:

I think you have to be a family member of the owner to work at that age now

This story has done very well on Reddit. Wonder how long until someone starts a gofundme and raises thousands of pounds for Christmas presents.

Gatling

Lesson no1 young man don't let your mother organise an unpaid internship and keep her away from red tops .

seamus

The Sun King wrote: »

I thought it was fairly common courtesy to hand the young fella or girl an envelope with a few quid in it on the last day of work experience.

Except it doesn't seem like that's what happened here.

It sounds like he was still "working" there, and went up to the owner to find out where his wages were. Of course the owner is going to go, "Uh, nowhere?"

Perhaps the owner was going to throw him a few quid in the run up to Xmas, but we'll never know now because his mother appears to have led him astray by organising an unpaid internship.

The chances are that the mother had agreed to do an unpaid internship - or maybe misunderstood what the store owner said (because, I would assume/hope that they would have said upfront whether it'd be unpaid or not), but didn't inform the son about this, so when he approached the owners, they were confused.

And now, because of this mother, the shop and the owners are made to be the bad guys.

Shop owner seems a miserable Scrooge.

Kid seems gormless.

Parents should put their hands up too.

A shower of dimwits all round. No wonder they were friends before the kid took a job without asking how much he was getting per hour, and the owner took advantage of it.

OldNotWIse

Shop owner is a miserable shíte IMO and I feel sorry for the kid. But the mother setting up a go fund me page? Seriously? I think this one annoys me even more than my homosexual friend who set one up to pay for a sperm donor so she can have a kid

Victor

It would seem not to be illegal for over-13s to work in England. https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/work/young-people/young-people-and-employment/
although there may be bye-laws making further restrictions.

Kimbot

Actually the young lad can legally work part time from 13 so the shop owner is a tool

https://www.gov.uk/child-employment/minimum-ages-children-can-work

Michael D Not Higgins

Victor wrote: »

It would seem not to be illegal for over-13s to work in England. https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/work/young-people/young-people-and-employment/
although there may be bye-laws making further restrictions.

jonny24ie wrote: »

Actually the young lad can legally work part time from 13 so the shop owner is a tool

https://www.gov.uk/child-employment/minimum-ages-children-can-work

The shop owner also said he didn't have a national insurance either though.

Samaris

I worked (part time as a summer job) from the age of 15, as did most of my friends. We got paid absolute peanuts of course, and we all looked forward to the (slight) pay-rise when we were 16.

I believe the going rate was about 3.15/hr. That'd have been in...er...2000-2001-ish, I think.

Kimbot

Michael D Not Higgins wrote: »

The shop owner also said he didn't have a national insurance either though.

The child hasnt been issued with his national insurance number which he wouldnt get until he was 16 in anyway so that makes no difference. The shop owner is looking for any way out of paying the young lad and is completely in the wrong.

The Sun King

The Sun King wrote: »

Not breaking the law, but still being a tight git. Throw the kid 150euro even and be done with it.

I'd like to know the misers in my area, whatever the "well technically.." crowd have to say about it.

Then the thread would be about a news story of some guy hiring a 15 year old, taking advantage and paying him two quid an hour.. Guarantee it. No matter what way this ended (or started), After Hours would have something to be angry about.

1. Hiring underage employee illegally. Not paying tax.
2. Underpaying an underage employee. Envelopes oh my god. No tax.
3. No pay. He didn't break the law but he's a tight bastard.
4. Sure why not give the lad a job. He needs the cash.
5. Discrimination and nepotism. Why didn't he hold fair interviews for the position?
6. Working on the run up to Christmas? Christmas is still special when you're 15.

The list goes on.. It just depends on how the news spins it and the first three posts. Every single time.

KomradeBishop

Arguably the shop is legally in the wrong - since they were promising future work - which would legally classify the kid as a worker due the minimum wage, not an intern:
https://www.gov.uk/employment-rights-for-interns

This is wage theft, simple as that.

Children under 16 don't pay national insurance and therefore don't require a national insurance number. They can work part time only from 13 up to 16 years old and are not entitled to receive a minimum wage either.

The employer (I use that term loosely) is a pr1ck and knew rightly what they were doing.

seamus

KomradeBishop wrote: »

Arguably the shop is legally in the wrong - since they were promising future work - which would legally classify the kid as a worker due the minimum wage, not an intern:
https://www.gov.uk/employment-rights-for-interns

This is wage theft, simple as that.

As has been pointed out, the minimum wage legislation doesn't apply here because he's under 16.

In any case, there are 3 stories here:

1. The mother's
2. The shop's
3. The truth

The mother claims he was taken on "with a view" to becoming paid part-time. Who's view? Is this something the shop formally agreed? Or was it something she said in passing?
The shop certainly aren't agreeing that was case, instead saying they clearly explained he wouldn't be paid.

Most likely this appears to have been arranged on an understanding, where both parties had a different understanding of the situation.

daheff

regardless of whats happened should have could have didnt pay.


The owner of the shop was a family friend. Now dont know about the rest of you, but if I were employing a family friend's kid i'd be paying them something. Not nothing...thats just out of order. Some friend they are.

kjl

When I read this on Reddit, I was convinced it was a scam

A fundraising website has since been set up for the 15-year-old.

Yeah, which will probably make in the £10,000 region when the kid might have been entitled to about £300.

Merry Christmas ya big dope. Like how exactly after 10 weeks of not getting paid did he think oh yeah, shouldn't I be getting all that money I've been working towards.

BattleCorp

I have a rule when it comes to work and it has served me well over the years, If I don't get paid on Friday, I don't go to work the following Monday.

This would have been sorted out very fast if the kid had went and looked for his wages after the first week.

I started part-time work in my Uncle's pub when I was 13 stacking shelves, sorting out the store, sorting out bottles etc. I would encourage every young person to try and get a part-time job. It helps teach them about work, the value of money etc.

What does this teach the kid ............. work hard and you will be taken advantage of.

What kind of tight cnut wouldn't give the lad a few bob for the work that he was doing?

Thargor

Cant seem to find a link to this fundraiser in any of the articles though, got a link?

Thargor

Im sure Londis PR department are delighted with this story being slashed across every news site on the planet by the way.

KomradeBishop

seamus wrote: »

As has been pointed out, the minimum wage legislation doesn't apply here because he's under 16.

In any case, there are 3 stories here:

1. The mother's
2. The shop's
3. The truth

The mother claims he was taken on "with a view" to becoming paid part-time. Who's view? Is this something the shop formally agreed? Or was it something she said in passing?
The shop certainly aren't agreeing that was case, instead saying they clearly explained he wouldn't be paid.

Most likely this appears to have been arranged on an understanding, where both parties had a different understanding of the situation.

Ah, true - that does seem to be the case - the link I had made it sound like under-16's could be entitled, so long as it wasn't a part of work experience; not so, though.

SAMTALK

When my son did work experience obviously he didnt expect to get paid. With the first one the owner handed him 100€ at end of week and with the second one he ended up getting a part time job out of it as well as a few euro for the weeks work experience.
I think shop owner should be ashamed of himself for treating the kid this way. He should have been encouraging a lad that was willing to go out and get a job at that age. If it was work experience it went on for a long time and if it wasnt then he should have paid him something.
Dont think much of the mothers fundraising idea!!!!!
What is she thinking.. The kid learnt a lesson (granted a very hard lesson) but setting up a fund page isnt the answer.

BattleCorp

Thargor wrote: »

Cant seem to find a link to this fundraiser in any of the articles though, got a link?

You are hardly thinking of making a donation, are you? :eek:

Thargor

BattleCorp wrote: »

You are hardly thinking of making a donation, are you? :eek:

Like feck just being nosey.

Umaro

Imagine working for someone for 10 weeks before thinking of asking about money.

Their story doesn't add up. Setting up a Go Fund Me only makes it seem like the mother loves to play people off against each other. I'm sure she'll find something in that money to buy herself a present too.

SAMTALK

Umaro wrote: »

Imagine working for someone for 10 weeks before thinking of asking about money.

Their story doesn't add up. Setting up a Go Fund Me only makes it seem like the mother loves to play people off against each other. I'm sure she'll find something in that money to buy herself a present too.

Think ill set up a gofundpage..
Im really fed up at having to go to work every day to earn money:rolleyes:

steddyeddy

Michael D Not Higgins wrote: »

The shop owner also said he didn't have a national insurance either though.

You can still get paid but on emergency tax basis.

Kimbot

Here is the Go Fund me page: https://www.gofundme.com/scdmsvbc

Also a bit more on the story in this article:

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

MilesMorales1

If she has paid him once, maybe she's chancing her arm with this intern ship thing? Maybe that was a one off payment to him? I dunno. Still ****ty behaviour.

The Sun King

"Goal of £30"

My pristine hoop.