Sleepaway camp demanding son to work 14 hour days

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

-Op here. Thank you. Yes, I have counseled him to request a meeting and be ready to offer ideas like alternating days between maintenance and counselor duties. I also suggested that he ask for more money if he wants it. He doesn't. He wants some down time! He accepts the idea of working 8-10 hours a day and volunteering to help out colleagues when he can and wants to. But they sent him this work schedule on the team slack account and told him it was for the rest of the summer! I told him to screen shot that schedule.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

-Op here. Thank you. Yes, I have counseled him to request a meeting and be ready to offer ideas like alternating days between maintenance and counselor duties. I also suggested that he ask for more money if he wants it. He doesn't. He wants some down time! He accepts the idea of working 8-10 hours a day and volunteering to help out colleagues when he can and wants to. But they sent him this work schedule on the team slack account and told him it was for the rest of the summer! I told him to screen shot that schedule.

Just say no. He accepted one job. THey added another job, with no additional pay. This is a no-brainer. They can stick to his original maintenance job contract or find themselves with another position to fill when he quits.

[Anonymous]

OP you should call MD’s Wage and Hour office tomorrow for advice. Most employers in MD mist pay at least $15/hr for employees 18+. There is no exemption for religious groups.

However there is an exemption from the minimum wage for non office workers at organized camps. I couldn’t quickly find the pay for those exempted but it seems odd they would make less than the Fed minimum wage which $6/hr is. Your son would also be eligible for OT for hours over 40 making his hourly rate much less than $6 if he only receives $400 a week.

https://www.labor.maryland.gov/labor/wages/wagehrfacts.shtml

[Anonymous]

I have never heard of camp counsellors who only work 8 hours and are off the other 16. If they changed what they hired him to do, then that is the issue but most camp counsellors work the camp sessions. I haven’t heard of any that have three full and separate shifts of counsellors. And that includes non religious camps.

[Anonymous]

By comparison, my son works at a STEM day camp in Bethesda for $17-something an hour, 7:50 to 4:20, and during the week of pre-training and clean-up, about 9 to 4.

I think your son's situation isn't right - either he should work less or be paid more. If he doesn't get what he wants, he leaves politely. That way the camp understands that they cannot keep exploiting young people. He'll be doing future counselors a favor.

[Anonymous]

I don't think the hours in themselves are that odd for a camp. I worked in the health unit of a camp years ago and we routinely had only 6 hours for sleep. I came home sick with bronchitis, fwiw. The pay however does strike me as low, I made $250 per week 20 years ago plus all meals.

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately this is always the way it is at sleepaway camp and it’s not right! My daughter does it because she loves it, but it infuriates me with how little she is paid. They say it is due to their room and board being paid. As for hours, they work them hard each day and then give them 48 hours off or 24 hours off breaks. At least at my DD’s camp, they’re flexible during the day about her taking a class for or taking a break, but it’s a lot! If your son doesn’t love it, he shouldn’t feel forced to stay.

[Anonymous]

At our camp years ago, lights-out was earlier than 10:30. Are you sure he’s not just being asked to be available in the evenings to sit outside the bunks to make sure the kids are sleeping, not sneaking out, etc (before the counselors return to the bunks from their evening free time)? He might not have to do much. That being said, HE needs his downtime/sleep. I agree he should speak up, and quit if it doesn’t work out.

[Anonymous]

Thanks very much to everyone for your helpful insights and thoughts. Yes, as a former camp counselor myself, I know in many respects that the job is sort of around the clock when you have a cabin of kids to be responsible for. But the way this camp director is trying to use my son by having him essentially work two separate fulltime jobs is nuts. He'll get it sorted, even if that means he has to quit. I hope not, but we'll see. Again I'm grateful for everyone's thoughts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP you should call MD’s Wage and Hour office tomorrow for advice. Most employers in MD mist pay at least $15/hr for employees 18+. There is no exemption for religious groups.

However there is an exemption from the minimum wage for non office workers at organized camps. I couldn’t quickly find the pay for those exempted but it seems odd they would make less than the Fed minimum wage which $6/hr is. Your son would also be eligible for OT for hours over 40 making his hourly rate much less than $6 if he only receives $400 a week.

https://www.labor.maryland.gov/labor/wages/wagehrfacts.shtml

Thank you for this. Helpful. --OP

[Anonymous]

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

same, over exhaustion impairs your judgement, which leads to greater liabilities down the road.

[Anonymous]

My DS worked at a local day camp after his freshman year in college that paid a $400 stipend per week. It worked out to far less than minimum wage and he refused to go back in subsequent years. This summer he has a PT internship that he's supplementing with a 5 week job as a residential manager at a camp on a university campus. He works long hours 6 days a week but makes a LOT more money.

The low pay at the day camp really infuriated me. Both my kids attended that camp for many summers and it was not cheap. Even the CIT gigs there had significant fees. Counselors should be paid a minimum wage hourly rate.

[Anonymous]

Becaise of the type of camp, your son is not subjected to overtime hours. I suggest he/you put a hard limit on 50 hours per week. Your son should be prepared to leave at the end of any one week it becomes too much.

I am sorry, OP. Look at this as a valuable lesson for your son advocating for himself and setting boundaries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Becaise of the type of camp, your son is not subjected to overtime hours. I suggest he/you put a hard limit on 50 hours per week. Your son should be prepared to leave at the end of any one week it becomes too much.

I am sorry, OP. Look at this as a valuable lesson for your son advocating for himself and setting boundaries.

OP here. I agree 100%. I'm proud that my son is prepared to calmly ask the director to speak this morning and is prepared to make his point and be heard. I hope it works out and he's able to stay, but he is also prepared to walk.

[Anonymous]

Is he getting room and board for the summer? That will probably make up the difference between his pay and minimum wage.