One of our clients contacted us recently about a “one-week work trial” for a potential new employee.
Essentially, they wanted the candidate to work for nothing, “a bit like an intern”, and if she was good, then they wanted us to put together a contract that started after the trial.
Our answer?
“No.”
Unfortunately for our client, there is no legal definition of a “work trial”.
And you don’t want to be the one providing us with one by going to tribunal and paying a barrister £5,000 a day to argue your case.
The current default is that you HAVE to pay the national minimum wage to anyone working for longer than a day, and for reasons other than a recruitment assessment.
Which – before you ask – a one-week work trial isn’t.
