by Rhonda Buffington

Created on: October 28, 2010

Have you ever applied for a job where you have to perform work for a few hours without pay? This is really happening! Even worse, it is happening in the United States of America. Is this legal? Where do the Labor laws fit in here?

Kelly Temporary services recently sent a group of people to a job at a Toyota plant in Georgetown, KY. After going through two interviews with the company, the potential employee was given a date and time to “test” for the job. Once arriving at the Toyota plant on their scheduled date and time, they had to sign a paper agreeing that they would not hold Toyota liable for any accidents or injuries that occurred while on their property.

The testing consisted of each person having his or her own shell of a car. Each car was roped off - away from the assembly line. The potential employees had to climb in and out of the car shell to run wires and screw bolts in the car.

Another part of the “testing” was using a computer to determine where to place weights, with each weight being similar to a weight used on a barbell. There were different weights, with the heaviest – and most used - being 25 pounds. After reading the directions on the computer, the trainee would put the weight in the correct area and then return to the computer to click done. Once each weight was complete and entered onto the computer, they would get more instructions on the computer to find which weight to move next. This continued until all weights were in place. The trainees rotated testing areas every hour but always worked on the same car shell.

Although it is understandable that a company would want to see how a potential employee would perform on the job, it seems a bit much having someone work (or “test”) for four and a half hours, without pay. On top of that, the potential employees do not know how or why they failed. They were only told they did not get the job.

However, Kelly Temporary Services did let the potential employees know that they could re-apply in six months. Seriously, who would want to go back and work over four hours, without pay, after they would not even inform you of what you done wrong?

It is very hard for me to believe that a company can have you work over four hours with no pay and it be legal in the United States. I contacted Labor Cabinet through their website as I started this article to find out if this is legal, but at the time of publishing this article, I have not received a reply.

Learn more about this author, Rhonda Buffington.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.