My friend was "helped out" but I feel he was ripped off

My friend has been out of work and ran out of unemployment benefit over a month ago. They are in bad shpe financially as a result. His wife is employed at low wage job at a local business. Anyway, his wife's boss who owns several local businesses and a farm knows about their situation and let him help out on their farm for a few hours. Out of the charity of this man's heart, he paid my friend $6/hour for his help hauling large bags of animal feed. My friend said that it was really nice of that man to help him out but I said that think that he was paid very little for the strenuness of work that he had him to. My friend was silent. Then I said, but I understand, you need all the money that you can get right now, anything is nice.
Really though, people put ads in the paper for such tasks for at least $9-$10/hour. This man who paid him $6/hour is wealthy. If I were "helping" someone, who was in a bad money situatuion, out by giving them work, I certainly would pay them a fair wage or more even though we ourselves are in a bad financial situation. If I really had money, I would consider that completely unethical, taking advantage of someone's desparation?
What do you think? Was his wife's boss a good man by helping him out? Was he exploiting their situation? Both?

And yes, it sounds like any money they get right now is a help.

I sure wouldn't turn it down if I were able and it were offered to me.

Don't for a minute think that Repubs *want* low unemployment. High unemployment makes it easy to exploit desperate people. :(

exploited.

No less than 9 people have told me that my boss exploits me. Maybe that was why I had the anxiety attack 1.5 weeks ago.

Oh well. Life is what we make of it. Gotta go with the flow.

We're in farm country, and her boss mighthave been on the lower end of the pay scale, but not grossly so.

...I have a couple of neighbors who recently lost their jobs and I have been paying them to do odd jobs around here for me. I don't think I should pay them more because they have advanced degrees, especially when I already had someone who was going to do the work who graciously bowed out.

Instead of thinking "Great, I found someone who I know will be a good worker who is so desperate for work that he will work for less than I thought anyone else would work for or even "I was planning on doing that myself but why not let someone else do it if they'll work for that low." For example in my old neighborhood, when a little boy asked to mow my lawn for $5, I thought along those lines. I thought that I was getting quite a deal. By the same token if someone wanted to clean my house for 6 dollars an hour, I would think of it as them helping me out, not me helping them out. The man made a big deal about saying that he was helping him out because he was concerned for his employee's family. The man may have been cheap in general and perhaps a good business man in that, but it is my opinion that the boss was being helped more than my friend out of the deal.

Yes, it was an unskilled job. But $6 an hour isn't charity.

If they neither of them report it, $6 is about the take-home portion of $9/hour or so.

The 'good man' is still probably a cheap bastard, but it depends on whether he would have paid someone else more for the work or not. (if he would have done it himself instead of hiring someone else, then he's more charitable than cheap).

for the exploited guy. If he were paying, say your figure-$9 per hour, it would be costing the 'Good Guy/cheap bastard' really $13.50 or more so an hour, what with payroll taxes and the inevitable hike in his UE rate, when he lays the guy off and unemployment is claimed. He pays the same amount into SS as is withheld from the guy's checks, maybe some workman's comp insurance. Local taxes or fees maybe charged (Redmond, WA charges employers who do business in their city limits $50 per year per employee.)

So Mr "I'm helping him out" is ripping Mr "I need help bad!" in a big way, IMHHO. He is also ripping off local, state and federal authorities, who fund projects with taxes other people pay from which he derives benefit. Again, JMHO.

I wonder who Mr Big voted for? :shrug:

Maybe he could have done it himself or with the help that he already had. And if he paid the man in cash and didn't make any deductions he helped him out there too. That would be cash in his hand that he won't have to pay taxes on.

the employer was just doing the guy a favor, that he didn't really need help. Nothing wrong with that, and you're right, they could use any money they can get right now.

It sounds like he is getting paid "under the table". I live in an area that economically depressed and jobs are hard to come by, often these "under the table" jobs are the only ones that come around. Generally most people are fair and will pay you at least $10.00 an hour, sometimes more. The work is completely grueling and if you screw your back up as a result, you have no medical insurance to fall back on. The only people who will do work like that around here for $6.00 an hour are immigrants who don't have green cards and can find absolutely nothing else. Yes the employer is exploiting them.

I have little myself, but fair is fair. I would pay $20 if I could afford it. NO JOB, IMHO, is worth less than $10 an hour!

..not by some bullshit hourly wage.
I mean, if a home-owner wants his roof swept off, garage trash hauled off, lawn raked, drive-way washed... scrubbed and rinsed off, then offering him/her 12 stinking dollars for the 2 hours it takes to do all those jobs is nothing more than being a cheap bastard.

I've had these things done and I tell the person "Look, I'll give you 30 bucks to do these things if you'll do a good job" Period.

Imagine it like this>>>I've got a 20 foot small ditch for you to dig...after the job I'll give you 7 dollars (it takes 1 1/6 hour).
You know what most people would say to that?...You know.. F.U. :)

It depends on a couple of things.

Was he going to hire someone else to do the work?

and

What wage does he normally pay if so?

I used to pay my daughters boyfriend $10 an hour to help me move heavy things around in the yard. I would have been ashamed to pay him less.

gets to brag about helping your friend out while laughing about how little he paid him. I hired someone to help me swab out my apartment and paid her $15 an hour and tip. And I'm broke.

What an asshole.

hour. I think he is exploiting the situation, although I am sure whatever money he makes comes in handy for your friend. :hi:

Maybe, I shouldn't have told him that it was my opinion that he was underpaid. He feels bad enough that he doesn't have a job and he probably did feel bad that he did that hard of work for so little.
Things are tough jobwise and he lives in one of the worst counties for unemployment. Maybe, more businesses will be hiring after Christmas and the New Year.

That's back-breaking work! I think had he been charitable, he'd have given him a lump sum for the job.