Unemployed graduate sues ministers for being 'forced' to stack shelves in Poundland

[Mich the Tester]

It is my human right not to work for Poundland: Graduate who faced losing benefit sues ministers

1) Cait Reilly has been looking for work since graduating in the summer
2) She volunteered at a museum until ordered to accept two-week placement
3) Her lawyer says the 'forced labour' breaches her human rights



Miss Reilly is now taking landmark legal action against the Government after being told she risked losing her £53.45-a-week Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) payment if she turned down the two-week unpaid work experience stint at Poundland.

Lawyers for the graduate are seeking a judicial review into Department for Work and Pensions rules that compel unemployed people to take unpaid work.

They say the scheme, part of the Coalition’s Work Programme to break the cycle of benefit dependency, amounts to ‘forced labour’ and is against the Human Rights Act.

The Government programme aims to help around 250,000 young people over the next two years through training and unpaid work experience in the public, private and charity sectors. Placement providers include chains such as Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Argos and Asda.

Source: Unemployed graduate sues ministers for being 'forced' to stack shelves in Poundland | Mail Online

Legal aid FTW.

I see that Poundland, being quite a large business, have quite a lot of opportunities for graduates to get on in life; Home - Poundland Careers Website

Perhaps she should speak to the HR people about training and progression, and just be glad she's got her foot in the door at a major employer instead of considering herself so bleeding superior.

Are graduates not taught things like initiative, communication skills and how to get things done?

[Mich the Tester]

Oh, and before you ask, no I wouldn't.

[SimonMac]

I can see where she is coming from, the only people to benefit from this is Poundland who are getting free labour, if she has got voluntary work elsewhere (in a field she is more likely to get a better paid job) this should settle the Job Center that they are not sat on her arse sponging.

[SimonMac]

Oh, and before you ask, no I wouldn't.

Wouldn't what? Shop in Poundland or tap that?

[Mich the Tester]

Wouldn't what? Shop in Poundland or tap that?

Tap that minger.

[SimonMac]

Tap that minger.

As a Geology student I bet she is really dirty while getting her rocks off

[Mich the Tester]

I can see where she is coming from, the only people to benefit from this is Poundland who are getting free labour, if she has got voluntary work elsewhere (in a field she is more likely to get a better paid job) this should settle the Job Center that they are not sat on her arse sponging.

This is a worthwhile point, but nobody's saying she has to give up her voluntary work at the museum, just do a bit of work experience at poundland and then go back to the museum, however the work experience offers an opportunity to show her skills to an employer who might be able to give her a paid job. Now OK, I can't imagine Poundland hire lots of Geologists to survey the earth under their stores, but how many people really do the job they've studied to do? Not many. I'm sure that if she has scientific skills and logical and mathematical ability she could make herself useful at head office, perhaps in a logistics management role, IT, planning etc. She just has to show some initiative; get in, talk with HR, write to the directors, offer the store manager to help with anything and show some initiative. By refusing she's just given a very bad impression of herself and I dare say that even employers of geologists would be put off by what she's doing.

[Mich the Tester]

Yep, sorry, stoopid question.

[sunnysan]

Difficult

Although in practice, any work experience could result in gainful employment, a system which forces people to work for free or lose their social security is open to abuse.

53 GBP per week JSA is the equivelent of (Lets make it partime 20 hour week) about 2.65 GBP / hour.

Surely PoundLand can pay this paltry sum to someone? They would pay more for bottom of the rung agency staff. Even illegal immigrants would not work for that.

Personally I think if PoundLand want to employ her they should compensate her for her time for what she woudl lose on JSA.

Where I grew up I had no recourse to unemployment insurance and survived on what I could make tending bars, answering phones in call centres, driving pompous dciks around etc, and taking free work placements to get the experience and make the contacts I needed to get a software engineering job. But I was not co-erced or forced by deprivation of incumbent income to do this.

Ergo if I did work I didnt consider relevent, obviously I would want to be compensated for it.

If the country wants to stop paying benefits to people thats another matter but this particualr scenario turns a Job Centre into a body shop rather than a vehicle to assist people to find gainful employment.

[MarillionFan]

Oh, and before you ask, no I wouldn't.

But this one has a pulse! Since when did you start getting picky?