Teenager - trial shift?

[Myattention]

DS is 16 and had a trial shift before being offered a job at a local restaurant. He’s had his first pay but it’s not included the 6 hour trial shift. Do employers not pay for trial shifts? We will raise it but concerned he’s been taken advantage of and given almost a days free labour albeit learning.

YANBU. A café near me does this and it's gross, just exploiting free labour. They should pay him, I wouldn't work for no pay as an adult so teens should be treated the same.

Yes they should be paying him. Or the " trial" should be less than 1 hour.

Thanks both. He’s due to be paid again for some holiday cover on Friday which is quite a bit so going to make sure he gets that then raise it.

i wouldn’t imagine it’s an oversight and likely the trial shift wasn’t paid, is your ds unable to ask himself?
or perhaps he knew but isn’t fussed as he now has a job

Yes he will ask himself but I have suggested waiting until he’s paid this week before doing so. We have talked and he assures me there was no mention of this being a free trial shift. If it had been I would have said an hour or 2 max. Unpaid for 6 hours is taking the piss.

It is legal in the UK to use unpaid trial shifts as long as it’s a ‘genuine assessment of the workers skills’. How one would prove that I don’t know! Article here https://www.andersonstrathern.co.uk/insights/unpaid-trial-shifts-the-employment-law-implications/

This is how some employers exploit young people. They know youngsters want work and they abuse them, sometimes they do not give them a job after a trial shift and go through lots of young people all summer getting free labour.
it’s a disgusting practice and should be illegal. Total exploitation.

This is very common, I'm afraid.

DD used to work in a cafe and they made it clear up front that they would pay for the trial shift that she did at the beginning. DD was impressed as she knew from her friends that this was unusual amongst the local independent cafés.

That is terrible.
He is even ‘fortunate ‘ that they gave him a job after the six hour ‘trial’ shift.
I think that there needs to be a limit of say two hours if the shift is to be unpaid.
The problem is that if your ds questions his employer they may decide to get rid of him .

I wouldn’t expect a trial shift to be paid. I don’t agree with this- but IME it’s true. In hospitality you need someone to experience the whole shift often so you can see them at the busy and the quiet times so it’s hard to just get them to come for a couple of hours.

Happens all the time and is blatant exploitation. Used mostly in small, independent cafes near us. I think you can assess in less than 1 hour if someone has the nouse to carry a tray/unpack a dishwasher etc. It REALLY makes me mad. My daughter had a few cafes do this. Call them out ! Good luck to your son.

It's exploitation BUT depends how much your DS wants the job as to wether they raise it or not.

Happens all the time, having a teen working for NMW is an absolute eye opener.

DS got caught out a couple of times like this, even for full time hospitality work. Last interview he went to he specifically asked if the trial shift was paid as he'd been exploited before. He got a paid trial shift and the job.

I worked in hospitality for years and never did an unpaid shift. I wouldn't want DS working somewhere that thought it was acceptable.

Yes the trial shift should be paid, but hospitality largely works on taking the piss out of those that work in it and has done for a long time.
Glad to see it's being questioned more and more, but that'll mean the industry will change as things like this become less acceptable.

I did too. I’d guess it’s become more popular over the last five years or so? I absolutely don’t agree with it, but it still is happening and it’s increasingly common.

This used a happen at a fish and chip shop in my town. They were bringing in teenagers for a series of trial shifts, then not hiring them and moving on to the next one. The parents eventually realised what was going in, posted an about it on Facebook and it ultimately closed.

And this is why it continues. It's also why sexual harassment goes under reported and why people like Weinstein got away with things for so long.

People put up with shit because the downside is losing your job or not getting work. And the people have the audacity to say 'well they didn't complain at the time blah blah blah'

Unpaid full shifts are just the low end of exploitation. But it's still exploitation.

In all honesty, if they don't pay him for those 6 hours, I'd be telling him to sack it off and leave. I wouldn't want to work anywhere that treated staff like that. I also wouldn't want to give them my custom.

A trial shift should be much shorter than 6 hours. At that point it isn't a trial to see if you can do the job, it's a day's free labour.