No one complains that volunteers don’t get paid a living wage.
I know I can volunteer to get paid $0/hour for a job at a hospital pushing wheelchairs. But it becomes a crime against labor if I they pay me $0.01/hour since it is below minimum wage.
Why can’t I volunteer to get paid $1/hour for a job at mcdonalds mopping the bathroom instead of $7.25/hour if I only need a few bucks a day and I am ok with the terms and I sign all the employment contracts, etc…
Because the state knows better than you what’s good for you.
Because the law says the minimum wage you can pay people is some arbitrary amount. If you pay someone to do something it is legal to pay them less than that.
Because then McDonalds would only hire people who “volunteer” to work below minimum wage, and thus effectively invalidate minimum wage laws.
Simple response - because your potential employer would be in violation of the law, specifically the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) at the federal level. Some state have their own minimum wage laws that require a higher minimum wage.
The incentive …
http://www.dol.gov/compliance/guide/minwage.htm
If you were to finagle an employee contract below the minimum wage, you would be placing everyone else who works there at risk of losing their jobs unless they, too, are forced to sign a similar slave contract. Your “fellow” employees wouldn’t like that and I’m speculating you wouldn’t work there very long, either, at least in a decent physical condition.
I’m not sure how American industrial law works, but the general principle is you can’t choose to be paid less than the minimum rate.
If you could, employers trying to squeeze a buck would be able to hire people at less simply because that person had “consented”.
Methinks you’ve dropped either a word or a syllable there.
Because then people would be coerced into working for less than minimum wage. Some relationships are so inherently unequal in the power held by the two parties there can’t be a realistic grounds for the weaker party to refuse to accede to the wishes of the stronger.
Indeed you are correct.
So why is volunteering legal? Volunteers are paid below minimum wage.
What if I apply for a job at McDonalds and told them I am willing to work for 0.00/hr and I told management to donate all wages to a homeless shelter?
WAG - Volunteering is a personal altruistic behavior that assumes you already have the means to sustain your lifestyle by other monetary means. In some job environments it’s is even illegal to have volunteers perform any inherently necessary jobs needed to keep the business functioning as a going concern. Also, what Little Nemo said would apply here as well.
Volunteers aren’t employees.
If you really wanted to work for nothing at Maccas, just take the money and donate it to a homeless shelter yourself.
Althought usually laxly enforced, there’s actually significant regulation around what work volunteers can and cannot perform and “volunteering” to mop floors at McDonalds for free would likely be seen as a violation of DOL regulations. Traditionally, these regulations have been flouted brazenly but there’s been more of a push towards enforcing regulations around unpaid volunteering and internships.
Why can’t poor people auction off their spare kidneys ? Why are caterers and consumers separated by an intrusive group of government busybodies prying into health and safety regulations instead of making their own uncoerced bargains ? Why can’t passengers just turn up and haggle for airfares before take-off ?
These are questions that keep libertarians up all night.
Similar logic applies to all business regulations. Why can’t a child ask to work for a business? Why does there have to be a maximum number of hours worked in a day or overtime paid after a certain amount? Why can’t a plant dump anything it likes into the air or water? Why can’t industrial poisons be used to bulk out milk powder if they are cheaper? In all cases, that used to be the way things worked. Once society - not government: government only reacts to society after abuses become too great to be ignored - decides that a line has to be drawn, that line must be enforced rigorously or it has no effect whatsoever since every incentive exists to violate it if more money or higher production is the result and it inevitably becomes a race to the bottom. Witness the many stories of such behavior by Chinese companies that engender outrage! (and notice how often they are next to stories concerning complaints about government over-regulation).
so do you believe volunteers should earn a living wage?
Moderator Note
This being GQ, let’s avoid political commentary. No warning issued.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
Volunteering is something done in a person’s spare time when they have another means of support.
Volunteers don’t earn a wage, living or otherwise. If they did, they would no longer be volunteers.
Is this really a GD thread in disguise? Did you really want to argue abstract notions like “living wage”? If so, ask a moderator to move it.