Sleepaway camp demanding son to work 14 hour days

[Anonymous]

My son started a summer job at a sleepaway camp in rural Maryland. It doesn't pay much (less than $400 a week). He is 18, so a legal adult. They gave him his schedule today have scheduled him for 14 hour days. I've given him a pep talk to speak up and say that 14 hour days 5 days a week is unreasonable. It's a religiously linked summer sleepaway camp so I assume it qualifies for various exemptions to things like minimum wage, but is there anything in statute or regs that he can point to? He doesn't want to quit. He just wants to work a reasonable amount of hours each day. While the pay is peanuts, it's not about the money. It's about exploitation. Camp leadership says they are short staffed. That's not my son's problem to solve. If anything the 40-50 hours a week he is willing to work should be an enormous help. But asking him to consistently work 70 hour weeks seems crazy. My son is going to speak to the camp director tomorrow. Beyond talking about the unreasonableness are there Any legal or regulatory arguments he can make?

[Anonymous]

He should talk about how unsafe it is for him to work so many hours in a row - he will be too tired to watch after kids properly, slow reaction time, etc.

[Anonymous]

Thank you. That's very smart, PP. and frankly true.

[Anonymous]

Normal, I would not have him go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Normal, I would not have him go.

That's very helpful considering that he's already there. But I would consider telling my kid to leave. Doesn't sound like a particularly safe or well-run camp, nor is it well-paid at all, so unless the kid loves it...why bother.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Normal, I would not have him go.

I'm proud of him for being willing to be his own advocate by having this conversation tomorrow. If it works out, great. If his reasonable concern is dismissed, he knows we support him if he chooses to quit. I worked at this same camp when I was his age and I was not asked to work practically round the clock. I'd like it to work out, but if he needs to leave, I support him. I would hate to lose my personal affection for this camp over this, but who knows.

[Anonymous]

If they're short-staffed, why can't they use those staffing savings to pay him more than a 6$/hr (which is a 70 hr work week at a 400$ salary).

Never heard that camps exempt from minimum wage requirements, but maybe they are.

[Anonymous]

I’d leave immediately. Not worth it.

[Anonymous]

SO it sounds like he is expected to work from reveille to taps?

Is he a cabin counselor? That's normal if so, with one day off a week. And he gets two days off.

[Anonymous]

Um, this is normal for a sleep away camp? I worked at one throughout college. Great experience. If he doesn’t want to do it then don’t have him go. What did he think when he got a job as a counselor? Did he ever go as a camper?

[Anonymous]

They hired him as a hybrid position (singular) of maintenance/counselor. They are trying to have him work maintenance 7:30-4 and then 5-10:30 as a counselor (presumably relieving the fulltime counselors). Yeah. Not cool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Um, this is normal for a sleep away camp? I worked at one throughout college. Great experience. If he doesn’t want to do it then don’t have him go. What did he think when he got a job as a counselor? Did he ever go as a camper?

--OP here. I worked at this exact camp for 3 summers in college. Thus my encouragement to him to give it a try. What this current camp director is trying to pull is slimy as hell. I know full well what a great, lifechanging experience working at sleepaway camp can be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son started a summer job at a sleepaway camp in rural Maryland. It doesn't pay much (less than $400 a week). He is 18, so a legal adult. They gave him his schedule today have scheduled him for 14 hour days. I've given him a pep talk to speak up and say that 14 hour days 5 days a week is unreasonable. It's a religiously linked summer sleepaway camp so I assume it qualifies for various exemptions to things like minimum wage, but is there anything in statute or regs that he can point to? He doesn't want to quit. He just wants to work a reasonable amount of hours each day. While the pay is peanuts, it's not about the money. It's about exploitation. Camp leadership says they are short staffed. That's not my son's problem to solve. If anything the 40-50 hours a week he is willing to work should be an enormous help. But asking him to consistently work 70 hour weeks seems crazy. My son is going to speak to the camp director tomorrow. Beyond talking about the unreasonableness are there Any legal or regulatory arguments he can make?

Be careful. Have weather alerts on phone and other devices if he has them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They hired him as a hybrid position (singular) of maintenance/counselor. They are trying to have him work maintenance 7:30-4 and then 5-10:30 as a counselor (presumably relieving the fulltime counselors). Yeah. Not cool.

No way, that's not reasonable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They hired him as a hybrid position (singular) of maintenance/counselor. They are trying to have him work maintenance 7:30-4 and then 5-10:30 as a counselor (presumably relieving the fulltime counselors). Yeah. Not cool.

No way, that's not reasonable.

That works out to far less than minimum wage. Why are they only paying him 400$ a week to do two jobs when they're short staffed. His conversation should be a request for more money, if that makes him happy, to do the two jobs. But working 7 am to 10:30 pm as a teenager sounds pretty miserable to me. I would suggest he does only the maintenance job he's doing which at a 9 hour day is still below minimum wage for 400$/week.