If your parents owned a business when you were a kid, odds are you worked for it at one point or another. And if your parents were anything like mine, you probably didn't get paid much more than a couple of dollars for ice cream, or maybe lunch.
Well, it turns out that kids these days are expecting a whole lot more for their labor — like, actual money. One parent found this out the hard way, posting on Reddit: "I own a small business and my kids (10 and 12) help me with the business after school. I don’t pay them, because we’re all members of the family who need to do our job and contribute. They met some other kids who work at their family’s business and apparently those kids are making minimum wage, so now my kids are starting to demand I pay them."
The parent goes on to fill in a few more details:
"They do pretty minimal tasks, nothing difficult, stacking and sorting, logging things into a spreadsheet, light cleaning, answering the phone. They’re really pushing for me to pay them now and aren’t having nearly as much fun as we used to working together since they found out their friends are being paid."
This is tricky, though, because it sounds like the kids are doing exactly the tasks that you'd usually hire someone to do … but they're doing them for free.
"I feel bad that they’re not enjoying themselves as much anymore, but feel it’s absurd for me to be expected to pay them," the parent continues. "They’re my kids and this is their family. Plus, I never want to reverse a parenting decision because 'that’s how my friends do it at their house' it sets a bad precedent."
As a parent, I fully understand where this mom or dad is coming from. You definitely don't want someone else's rules to be why you change yours … unless you're in the wrong.
"But I’m starting to really get worried I’m being too stubborn now, because they do good work, and if their friends are getting paid times might have just changed since I was younger working at my family’s business," the parent wonders. "Am I the [expletive] for not paying them?"
This is also a fair point. Kids haven't always had the expectation that they might make money when working for their families, for sure.
However, the crowd at Reddit that the parent posed the question to definitely sides with the kids. Responses were a little mixed, but in general nearly everyone thinks the kids should be paid. Also, a lot of people weren't sure if not paying kids violates child labor laws in the United States.
One commenter made an excellent point, stating that if the parents would be paying someone else to do the work anyway, they should be paying their kids for the same work:
"If your kids weren't doing the work, you'd likely have to pay someone else to do it, and your young children are giving up time that they could otherwise use to fun childhood activities or homework to help with your business. Either pay them or (my opinion) let them actually have a childhood instead of making them work to fulfill your goals."
Another says that, actually, everything might be OK:
"One in a family business its okay to have your kids work and do small tasks at least it’s okay in the states. Two if the kids voluntarily worked with no pay is okay as well. I did work at a couple of store events with my dad and I’ve worked and helped him in his place of work all for no pay. The word work is a flimsy term if the kids are not classified as employees then [the original poster] technically does not have to pay them. Also they would have to sign a contract with the company.
"EDIT: the kids not only have to sign a contract with the company in order to get [paid] but they also have to fulfill the hourly requirements of the job in order to keep it. As I’m assuming they 'work' when they are able to and it’s not like an 8-5 that they 'work'."
And ultimately, whether or not the kids are getting paid might just come down to whether or not the parent can afford to pay them.
"Whether you pay them or not I think depends on a lot more than just what you’ve told us," a commenter said. "If you are pretty well off and refuse to pay simply because that’s how it happened in the olden days then [you're the (expletive)]. If the business isn’t doing well and you literally can’t afford to pay them then you need to just sit them down and explain. Would be a good time to discuss finances. Also, they are 10 so they probably don’t need minimum wage right now. But if you expect them to work for you as teenagers then you should also plan on paying more than minimum as they reach that age."
When it comes to employing your own children, the United States Department of Labor also provides exceptions to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Minors under 16 are not held to the same work limits that their peers are if they're working for a family-owned business, and they can work any number of hours. Also, kids can legally work for their families if the job isn't deemed hazardous.
One commenter had a great idea that a lot of other people liked, too: If you aren't going to pay them, invest the money in something that will benefit them.
"You're teaching them that their labor should be free and setting a bad example. The least you could do is put wages toward a college fund."
Of course, the kids might argue that getting money immediately would benefit them the most! Ultimately, the kids are doing work that benefits the company, and it sounds like it's work that the parent doesn't want to do or doesn't have the time to do. So it probably makes sense to pay them something — if anything, to keep the employees happy.
These stories are based on posts found on Reddit. Reddit is a user-generated social news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion website where registered members submit content to the site and can up- or down-vote the content. The accuracy and authenticity of each story cannot be confirmed by our staff.
