Hi, another question, I’ve been offered a full time role which will give me paralegal experience. The problem is that it is not paid and they call it “work experience.” Is this not illegal since I will be working full time? If so, what should I do about it?
Any advice will be appreciated because I have got a limited time to accept the role
Unfortunately organisations can offer "volunteer" positions that are unpaid and still be on the right side of the law, even if they are full-time. They don't have to be a charity or non-for-profit organisation either.
Organisations can often fall on the wrong side of the law surrounding this though by effectively making you work like an employee but just labelling you as a volunteer. If, for instance, you are doing the same responsibilities as someone who is employed as a worker at the firm, this in itself could mean you are entitled to minimum wage and all the other employment rights an employee would have. There are a whole load of other factors too, but I am by no means a legal expert on this to go into them, but other factors could include stopping you from working elsewhere or putting performance measures in place.
The trouble is that loads of organisations know that "volunteers" who they are treating as employees do not have the legal backing to pursue claims for employment rights though. To do so, you'd need to start legal proceedings against the organisation and that can be time consuming and sometimes costly.
Generally I would say this is unethical but not necessarily illegal. I don't have an issues with organisations doing this who are not-for-profit, but feel it is an issue if revenue-generating companies are bringing in people on this basis for more than four weeks. In my opinion, ultimately they should be paid if even less than four weeks and if you are doing actual work, but four weeks is considered by many to be a reasonable cut off for something to be an unpaid "internship" or placement opportunity.
If you did want to pursue it, get them to at least confirm what kind of expenses they will cover for you (e.g. travel, lunch allowance) and also maybe ask what processes are in place to move from a volunteer role to a paid position.
Generally though, I would argue such arrangements should be avoided and if everyone did that, then the practice would diminish. But I get it is hard to just turn down opportunities that may help build a CV out or help you secure future roles. I myself have placed people in unpaid positions labelled as work experience, albeit for no longer than 4 weeks and in instances where the individual was not contributing to the firm's revenue-generating work.
