Unpaid work | Employment lawyer raises concerns after autistic man loses voluntary Waitrose role following pay request

An employment lawyer has warned that Waitrose may have breached employment laws after a severely autistic man was reportedly let go from his unpaid volunteer role when his mother asked for him to be paid.

Jo Martin, employment lawyer at Bellevue Law, said she was “concerned that work that has evidently been of real value to Waitrose has been accepted from this individual for many years, without him being paid.” She added that his mother “is right to question the fact he hasn’t been paid, as this isn’t work experience in any true sense”.