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voluntary internship with limited company

jcrisp88
Posts: 6 Forumite
Back in april 2013, I apply for a voluntary internship with a limited company, and managed to get the role.
The internship was for 3 months, and was offered a permanent contract if i was suitable at the of the period.
I have recently read that if you go beyond simple work, this qualifies you as a worker, e.g "simple work shadowing and encompass actual personal work for someone else".
At the time of working with the company i was giving personal projects and at times, the only one left in the office, to answer calls, and complete tasks, and the company profited from said projects on completion.
I have also read that workers are not able to "waive" their wages, so would i be entitled to reclaim minimum wage for the period that i have work?
Any advice or help would be much appreciated.
Thanks.
The internship was for 3 months, and was offered a permanent contract if i was suitable at the of the period.
I have recently read that if you go beyond simple work, this qualifies you as a worker, e.g "simple work shadowing and encompass actual personal work for someone else".
At the time of working with the company i was giving personal projects and at times, the only one left in the office, to answer calls, and complete tasks, and the company profited from said projects on completion.
I have also read that workers are not able to "waive" their wages, so would i be entitled to reclaim minimum wage for the period that i have work?
Any advice or help would be much appreciated.
Thanks.
0
Comments
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In theory, yes, you could. In reality, you may have a fight on your hands, and you could say goodbye to working for the company or any of their associates again. Are you going to need to be on good terms with them in the future?0
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At the start of the year when i returned after the Christmas holidays, i was handed redundancy. also in the contract it states i am not permitted to work for/with any of its associates for upto 1 year, unless given permission in writing.0
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Rather than drip feed information to us would you care to tell us what your real question is and why you are asking, and provide the background information that we'd need to assist.0
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Why on earth would you work for free?0
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Internships sounds very American and a load of B.S to me.
They may be suitable for careers such as Medical and Engineering, where the Intern gets work experience, qualification and a job in skilled area (Skilled being the keyword), but in business, media and marketing they are simply B.S and immoral.
Working for free by dangling a carrot of a "promise" to a paid job. What a way to manipulate people.0 -
@agrinnall I dont see how iam "drip feeding information" The question is can i clam back for the work that i did over the 3 months. also i dont know what information is needed.
I was told in the interview that i would be assisting/working with another employee, and at the end of the contract there is the chance of full time employment.
The company i was working for is a digital web agency and after the first week of assisting other employee's i was given my own tasks to complete and was the only front end developer in the company so all projects at some point where assigned to me.
Is there anymore information that would be helpful?
If i am able to claim what would be the best way to go about it?
Thanks0 -
Ok, you've started off saying you had a 3 month internship in April 2013. You then said at the start of the year you were 'handed redundancy'. So is the redundancy from the same company that you started with in April, if so what happened after you'd been there for 3 months, did they start paying you? If you weren't paid then redundancy is meaningless; if you were, any redundancy payment would be entirely voluntary on the employer's part as redundancy pay is not due until you've worked there for two years. And even if you are being paid they can sack you pretty much as they please. And they can probably set any restrictions they want to on re-employment within the organisation.
If you were not paid when you feel you were doing real work you could probably try, as jacques chirac says, to make a claim for being paid NMW for the hours you worked. Gov.uk suggests calling the Pay and Work Rights Helpline for advice on NMW, 0800 917 2368.0 -
yes it was the same company, after the 3 months i was given a 1 year fixed contract, but then handed redundancy on 2nd Feb and i know i not entitled to redundancy pay.
Main point was about the Intership only said about the redundancy as jacques said say goodbye to working for them, that was all.
Thanks for the advice agrinnall, ill give Pay and Work Rights Helpline a call and see what they say, and post back feedback on here.
If anyone else has information that would help, it would be greatly appreciated.0 -
AIUI you can't make an ET claim(exercising statutory right) as it is out of time.
Volunteers often do real work.
You were happy not being paid and only thinking of bringing a claim as they have got rid. I would focus on getting another job and not have an employment case hanging over you it will not help.
I think you are stuck with the notice pay and any extra they want to pay.0
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