2023-06-16 19:00:57
As the holidays approach, some employers do not hesitate to offer young people looking for a summer job an unpaid trial period. With few exceptions, these practices are illegal.
To land a catering contract, Margot, a young woman from Lausanne, worked for a week on a trial basis, without earning a single franc. She just got a free drink a day.
In sales and the hotel and catering industry, the practice seems common. “There isn’t a single job in Switzerland where I haven’t been asked to do an unpaid trial, whether it’s three hours, all day or a week there,” she explains.
This unpaid week, however, represents more than 900 francs of loss of earnings. But Margot is resigned. “I accepted because I had no choice. The world of work is not easy. You have to accept things when they come”
No work performance
Working for free is technically possible. But the salary can only be optional in two specific cases.
“When people are there for observation, to visit the company, get to know the team and do not provide work, we are not obliged to pay for that day”, explains Morgane Bühlmann, lawyer at the Patron Center.
But even in this case, the lawyer advises “to provide for it in a written agreement to avoid any misunderstanding on the question”.
Cleaning the premises, customer service: during her free week, Margot worked like the other employees.
No CTC
There is a second exception for which remuneration is not mandatory. “If we are not in a field governed by a collective labor agreement (CCT), we can agree in advance on a short period which would not be paid”, explains Laurent Mettraux, head of the Labor Inspectorate of Lausanne.
Some sectors without CCTs therefore have more freedom, but this is not the case for the hotel and catering industry, a branch covered by a minimum wage.
Illegal situation
Faced with the testimony of Margot, the opinions are unanimous, from the representatives of the bosses to the unions: the situation is illegal.
“Any work done deserves a salary”, confirms Tamara Knezevic, union secretary at UNIA Vaud. “This is not observation work, but service work. And from the moment you have made your work available to the employer, it must be remunerated” , she continues.
Margot might therefore put her ex-boss on notice to pay. She can seek advice from a trade union or the labor inspectorate, which offers free help in Lausanne.
Pascale Defrance/edel
1686954493
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