Why do family businesses refuse to pay fair wages?
Parents who own family businesses often refuse to pay a real salary or charge for labor, forcing adult children to drain personal trust funds or endure years of unpaid work to survive. This lack of financial compensation and transparency leads to extreme mental health distress and deep doubt about career choices.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1draining an educational trust fund or personal savings to survive
- 2relying on a spouse's health insurance plan
- 3building a parallel business on the side from scratch
- 4considering quitting or pursuing legal action for lost wages
- 5Asking online communities for ballpark cost estimates to figure out an appropriate monetary gift or check.
- 6Covering material costs at a discounted rate and looking for alternative ways to reward the worker.
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“He has never paid me a real salary. My grandfather left me $500k in an educational trust. I have been slowly draining it for eleven years just to survive.”source ↗
“My mental health is at an all time low. I’ve poured my heart and soul into this for eleven years. I’m starting to have serious doubts about my career, my choices, my future.”source ↗
“I’m trying to pay my stepdad for a roofing job, but he refuses to name a price. Can someone please give me a ballpark estimate so I can make sure he’s fairly compensated?”source ↗
“The problem? He will not charge me for labor. Absolutely refuses.”source ↗
“Anyhoo, I’m just trying to get a rough estimate of what something like this runs, so I can surprise him with an appropriate gift (like an XL check).”source ↗