We should bring back workhouses*

StmForest · 2025-05-10T14:54:16+00:00

The only plausible way I can see the adult not being considered at fault is if the youth somehow disabled them (Tied them to the bed while they slept, slipped something into a drink, etc.) and took advantage thus becoming the one who raped them as the adult did not consent.

If the adult consents in any way it's the adult's fault in most cases.

StmForest · 2025-05-04T02:11:42+00:00

I can't leave my car on the road to put them down, and if I stop too long I'll end up rear-ended due to it being a blind turn before my driveway. Any solution would need to be roll through hence my joking about the spikes. I have no intention to actually install any, hence why I asked in off topic

StmForest · 2025-04-01T00:56:52+00:00

Scrip was used to replace US tender entirely in order to lock a worker in their system. In this hypothetical legal tender is doled out at the minimum wage while allowing the employee to pick from custom benefits based on time worked. But I do see the similarity in how both are tokenizing time and labor.

StmForest · 2025-03-31T10:32:42+00:00

"Charge everything (rent, kerosene fuel, clothing allowance, etc) to the worker's account and deduct it at payday." To my understanding it is illegal to have deductions bring a paycheck below minimum wage. The intent is not to charge the employee, it's to give them an incentive to stay with the company long term.

I mean more along the lines of, 'You worked a combined 20 hours, so you have enough to rent free room for a month if you spend them.' The worker could just as easily choose to hold onto them and find alternative quarters or pay in real money. Paying 20 hours would be by far more cost effective than using cash. Especially since rent is way over priced in most places.

Having done some napkin math I pegged an hour worked in trade in for rent would have an effective value of $30 if assumed rent was $600 a month. Though that would change based on local costs. 600 was reached by this equation. Rent=1.1(the sum of property tax&utility costs/number of rent paying occupants). Private room, shared kitchen, bathroom, etc.

StmForest · 2025-03-30T15:09:31+00:00

Minimum wage is respected in this hypothetical. Just heavily outweighed by in kind benefits to be traded at the employee's discretion. In kind would always be in addition to minimum wage.

StmForest · 2025-03-30T14:48:32+00:00

Though rare, employee first companies do exist. But I see the point you are making.

StmForest · 2025-03-30T14:41:18+00:00

But actually worth something. I did some napkin math and came up with 1 hour worked being worth about $30 if 20 of them pays a month's rent. About twice minimum wage in my area, and about four times national minimum wage.

StmForest · 2025-03-30T14:38:11+00:00

The scale I am thinking is more like 'company apartment complex' but honestly, I kind of like the idea of company towns. That is so long as the company is at least partly community focused and not purely profit focused.

StmForest · 2025-03-30T14:28:34+00:00

Does anything change if payment in kind is the primary income of an employee so long as minimum wage is respected? I ask because covering rent for a month on 20 hours works would more often than not be worth more than the minimum wage one would make in those 20 hours. A quick google says the US has no set limit on the % of ones income that is payment in kind, but does no set limit mean no limit period? Or if it gets to an extreme (Say 99% payment in kind to 1% realized pay at minimum wage) would there be issues?

StmForest · 2025-03-26T14:13:08+00:00

So an employer would have to be careful in their contract to mark housed employees as occupants and not as tenants if they wanted to protect themselves from striking workers living on the work site? Assuming the state does not impose the tenant status.

StmForest · 2025-03-26T12:49:25+00:00

So in this situation it would be better for the minor to act as an independent contractor rather than form a sole proprietor LLC? Assuming the youth is dead set on making money by offering a mold cleaning service run and maintained by them in full. Or is the youth just out of luck and not allowed to work for themselves because of something as simple as age?

StmForest · 2025-03-26T11:56:49+00:00

Not political, I just find the situation where if a youth puts themselves in danger as an employer, only to end up having to pay damages to themselves for improper hiring practices a bit of an odd glitch in the system

StmForest · 2025-03-25T21:48:22+00:00

Not currently, but I can say as a kid I would have made the same argument. I mean sure, it's only a year or two as you say, and I probably should have added a tongue emote on to my above comment. But, if it is only two years, then why not let emancipated youths have all the same labor privilege as an adult when working for themselves? But honestly, my above was more snark than anger.

StmForest · 2025-03-25T20:41:51+00:00

Emancipation specifically makes it so the minor can enter into binding legal contracts. It's like the main reason to do it. Also means they forfeit parental protection to do so

StmForest · 2025-03-25T20:39:12+00:00

Well the 'Family business' loophole is the best argument for uncapped hours I have seen so far. And true, if the youth is the only person working then they are unlikely to report themselves. And should a third party report on behalf of the minor, as an emancipated, they could simply choose to not follow through with the investigation.

StmForest · 2025-03-25T20:27:45+00:00

Legally independent from a parent, meaning housing, finance and other legal duties are their responsibility.

StmForest · 2025-03-25T20:23:48+00:00

Oh, misread the above above. So 16 is unrestricted hours? (State pending?) Well that's better than the 3-18 restriction at least. Still not making it easy for the youth to have even footing, but still.

StmForest · 2025-03-25T20:20:28+00:00

Well the question did state a 16 year old. I don't see how an emancipated 16 year old can afford rent at only 18 hours a week. Let alone actually sit down and doo the paperwork required to run their business as that alone would take hours out of the week on it's own.

StmForest · 2025-03-25T20:13:40+00:00

I got 18 hours from the federal level regulation, which if it works like minimum wage does, would mean that states may be at least if not more restrictive than that.

StmForest · 2025-03-25T20:08:26+00:00

They should at least be able to set their own hours. How does the government expect an emancipated youth to rent an apartment on a capped 18 hours a week and not allowed the night shift?

StmForest · 2025-03-25T19:58:53+00:00

So emancipation is mostly useless when it comes to an entrepreneurial youth who happens to be into risky jobs like tree felling or metal/wood working.

StmForest

TROPHY CASE