Employment question/scenario

charlie clown · April 10, 2017

I have a mate who is a lovely, lovely bloke but never thinks for himself and is a bit of a dick when it comes to making life decisions. A few years back he was made redundant from a civil service job and was given a significant pay-off which he has lived on ever since. He decided about 4 years back to do an accounting qualification (AAT I think) to try and make himself available for casual or part-time work. He is now pretty much qualified and early last year he started doing some unpaid work for a bloke he knows who runs a recruitment agency. He thought it would (a) be good experience, (b) help with his exams and © set him up a bit better for when he does qualify and start looking for a proper job. Thing is, he has now been doing this unpaid work for about 15 months, 2-3 days a week, and gets absolutely nothing for it. Zilich. I keep telling him he is a an utter mug and muppet for not forcing the issue but he keeps referring back to "well, it's been really good of them to let me do that [and of course it enables a, b and c, above]"

He's a grown adult it's his decision etc.but I can't help feeling that he is falling down some sort of loophole here around National Insurance contributions, health & safety at work, public liability insurance etc.etc.

He is being a complete dick in putting up with it but the company are massively exploiting him as well.

I'm posting this more out of frustration with him than the need for a solution. Just an indication of the employment rabbit holes that people get themselves into...

cymrococh · April 10, 2017

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