Gross misconduct? AIBU to report this college tutor

[fannyfelcher]

My eldest son is an absolute delight. He is hard working, loyal, loving and awesome. Due to his autism he has had a terrible time in schools and colleges until last September we found a course that he fitted in with right away and he has thrived. The last 3 months he has been talking about getting a part time job but has had no real luck due to shyness and most jobs being customer focused ( he struggles with IDing emotions on others).

Anyway, he came home on Monday thrilled to bits, his tutor had a contact that was looking for serious hard working college age students to train up. Very serious stuff, he has to wear a suit to the interview, attend an evening seminar to get an idea a=of which area he wanted to progress in and if the training was compatible with his college hours. I knew there was something wrong when I looked at the leaflet and it didnt actually say anything, it was all just words and fancy graphics without any real content.

He was so nervous he could not face driving so I went along with him for the 50 minute drive( thank god). We get there and right away, we sat dwn and I just knew what it was. It was a presentation for a company called ACN and they are a multi level marketing scheme. My son was eager to sign up and part with £500 to get "his own business,complete with online shop" so he can become independent and earn his own money. He is so excited by this opportunity nd it breaks my heart. If I had not been there he would have done it right away. I could not say anything there and then as the tutor that he adores so much is the very same guy that has tried to recruit him into this scheme along with another 5 boys from the IT BTEC he runs. I would have embarrassed my son and jeopardized the second year of the course he loves as well as had an entire room full of 100-200 very very enthusiastic people turn on me.

So, I really want to report this tutor, to me he has committed an awful error in his conduct by using his position of trust to try and enrol his students (some vulnerable) into a scheme that will benefit him and leave them poorer. My husband says that I should leave it and make it clear to my son that we will help him find a job that pays an hourly wage so as to give him set hours with a predefined wage as a reward. ( he does not need to get a job, he gets plenty of pocket money but feels he wants to be independent).

So, what do i do you lovely bunch of vipers?

RolyRocks I have also just looked on the website of the college in our next nearest town: they list a phone number for people wishing to advertise jobs to students.

No thats probably not their only job. And they probably dont have a dedicated office and team just for that role. But damn right there's an official way to go about it and yes, I do think what youve done is "going rogue" and potentially dangerous if you are turning a blind eye to your colleagues doing it too. What happens when one starts picking out the pretty girls for their mates "cocktail bar" hmm??

Fucking MLM. OP, have a look in money matters at the Botwatch threads - lots of people there who will recognise this shoddy but typical behaviour. You’re right to be alarmed given that >97% lose money in product or service based pyramid schemes. Apart from breaches of trust and possible breaches in his contract this person has likely breached data protection laws as he’s used information from the college for purposes other than those for which they were intended. I bet he’s passed on a whole heap of names to the MLM. The college needs to know and they need to stamp this fraud out over publicly. I suggest if they don’t take it seriously you direct them to MLMbotwatch or the MLM Coalition and we’ll explain the problem to them. No point complaining to the Direct Selling Association as they’re just puppets for the paying members.

Oh my God, your poor son! I feel so bad for him.

Definitely report this. The most charitable reading of this is that the tutor didn't know what the company was, and didn't do the due diligence on it. The worst is that it's genuine, real corruption.

I wouldn't go into it assuming it was the tutor.
"A contact" could be someone who contacted the school and made it sound legitimate. Not necessarily a mate.
He may have been sold it very carefully to make it seem an excellent one for his students. After all I've known some very intelligent people-some of them with a lot of common sense-who have fallen for MLM and other scams.

Absolutely you should report this - for so many reasons, including that it will probably mean that the parents of the other five boys will be alerted. They may not all have your son's specific vulnerabilities, but they are presumably all still young, if not actually minors, and may have been similarly influenced by someone in a position of authority. As you say, it's lucky you went with your son, so I would want to be sure that other students aren't being duped without their parents having a chance to intervene.

Of course you should report it. He’s targeting vulnerable students.

Your husband is happy to let other vulnerable students be taken advantage of? I bet he’d be the first to go batshit if someone didn’t protect his son when they could have. Selfish git.

Yes, of course the tutor may not be aware - lots of people don’t know about MLM. However, there has recently been a drive by various MLM to recruit from the student population, especially now that many struggle financially so the MLMs see their chance to lie about the ‘income’ to youngsters. I think your college needs to be aware of this and make whoever controls career advertising/recruitment opportunities aware as MLM are very good at looking legit if you don’t know what you’re looking for or are not an old cynic.

"A contact" could be someone who contacted the school and made it sound legitimate. Not necessarily a mate.

OP found information on the company pretty easily and I'm sure the tutor could do the same. Seems highly unlikely he didn't know how the company operated unless he is particularly incompetent. Either way, the college needs to know.

This is definitely gross misconduct and also a conflict of interest as multi-level marketing, by its very nature, means that the tutor is probably making profit by introducing new recruits to the scheme. Document everything in writing and send it to the Dean of the College, copying everything in to the College's HR department.

I am a teacher and I would expect to be sacked if I did this.

And if any student is under 18 the law is being broken

It STILL doesnt matter if he didnt know it was a MLM. I have looked on all my local college websites and they ALL have an official route for employers who want to advertise to students.

He should not be cherry picking vulnerable suitable studenta for his mates.

Heres another one of my local colleges. Again, they ALL have official routes for advertising student jobs where they get centrally checked/approved!:

Also in this section
Advertise a Vacancy to Students

Our online Jobs Board is available to employers to advertise their job vacancies to our students. We welcome all job types to be advertised – including part-time, full-time, temporary or graduate roles.

Simply email [email protected] to request a job advert template. You will then be sent a simple form to complete which we will then check and promote to all our students.

Flobella, exactly right. I have been involved with the dismissal of two teachers who were involved in an MLM and in the end it was the Data Protection issue that most upset their employers.

"A contact" could be someone who contacted the school and made it sound legitimate. Not necessarily a mate.

Even if its not a mate its still wrong.
If an individual tutor who is not a designated placement coordinator etc gets contacted by an emoloyer they should be directing them to the official route for advertising jobs to students.

On a side note, well done your son for wanting to find work despite your financial support. My parents had the same attitude, I rested on my laurels and only got the odd random summer job during my student years. It didn't serve me well after graduation when it was time to look for a real job and the "experience" bit of my CV was a bit wishy-washy. It's not just about the money at that important age.

And yes, gross misconduct Even if the lecturer wasn't aware, he should have done a better job of checking. Please do report.

I once went for a job interview at a college, was offered the job, and, in the same breath, the woman who interviewed me invited me to one of these. There definitely seemed to be an implied correlation between the job offer and the MLM thing.
I was a young teacher at the time, fresh out of college and desperate for the experience. Found myself signing up on the bottom tier and spent the next year avoiding her as she constantly hounded me to 'invest' some more money.
I wish I'd reported her, but at the time the job seemed more important

Sorry I had to run out to get some food for dinner before the troops fall through the door demanding to be fed.

The tutor knew full well what it was, or he should have done as he openly admitted to me that he had been doing this job to supplement his earnings for the last month/6 weeks. He personally introduced us to the "poster boy" person that has been the most successful in the UK. Typical gorgeous looking, suited and booted, oozing confidence sort of sales guy. He claimed in a previous life he was an emergency room doctor after completing a Bsc and an MA and after 6 years he decided it wasn't for him. The terminology was all wrong, the guy was a cockney but talked about the ER and actively dissed the fools that spend £40k in uni when you can become a millionaire within 6 months on this scheme.

I am going to report it, I don't care what the OH says. My son would have happily signed over £500 in a heart beat last night as he trusts his tutor and wants desperately to work.

hazell classic case of targeted recruitment of young people who are less likely to query things as they’re in a new environment. The other classic time for recruitment is women who have recently had children and may be questioning their direction or wanting to be at home/work flexibly and again be in a new world. Another recruitment area is among patients/ in a healthcare environment when people may be vulnerable and anxious about their health (think Forever Living and Juice Plus). They’re evil.

Just to further clarify this. At the very end of the "meeting" i had to drag my son out of there after his tutor promised to show him his online shop at college tomorrow ( today). I CAN NOT openly slam this tutor to my son, or even slate the company as he won't have it unless its him that learns it himself. So I said it was interesting but pointed out that the only question I asked "what is the wage per hour?" answer NONE, was technically illegal. I then encouraged him to pursue some local call centres that pay £7.70 an hour to 18 year olds. I told him to really thoroughly research the company ACN and get a fully rounded picture of both good AND bad points.

He just want's a bloody job :(

OP, yes you must must must take this further. The tutor needs sacking. Is your DS over 18?

botwatch.blog might be useful OP

This is horrendous, makes me furious for you and your son. Definitely report it.

Tutor should have checked more carefully. I've just had a look at their website - its so obviously a recruiting organisation rather than one that has a substansial product /service. What they provide is barely mentioned its all focused on how you too can join

How old is your son? If he's under 18 he couldn't join anyway and it was even more stupid of his tutor to send him along.

My DS is over 18 but he is a year late as he hated his Alevels so had to restart doing a course that was better suited. So some kids may well be under 18.

I know a few people have said that my husband is a dick for not wanting me to report it and I half agree. But he has seen first hand the tears, the bullying and heartbreak that my son has been though all of his life. This is the first place he has felt comfortable with his course, his tutor, and actually has friends. The course almost didn't go ahead due to staff shortages so he is concerned that the staff member will get sacked and the course ends half way through. Then our son has to start all over again in a new place, knowing nobody

I will be reporting it. I am going to spend the weekend going through it all and then will email it. Possibly anonymously to prevent fallout affecting my son.

Ah just seen you last post - tutor has an online shop.. then he was definately recruiting on his own account - no question report him