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21/04/2008, 19:32 Washy Joined on 23/08/2004 Corbieres, Aude (11) Posts 332 Wwoofers the law and fingerprints A friend of mine has just been 'invited' to go and see the gendarmes today.  She had been offering board and lodging to a young american guy in exchange for light duties around the house she found him on a web site.  He cut wood, walked the dogs, painted a door and did some gardening.  She has now been told she has committed a crime by doing this.  According to the gendarmesonly close relatives can be deemed as helping you out, not even cousins can help with the DIY without being classed as working on the black?????  I know the French have withdrawn from the WWoofer organisation and have organised their own scheme. Now when she was at the gendarmerie she was fingerprinted and her photographs were taken, questioned about distinguishing marks etc.  She said she was not told she had committed a crime but 'could have', she signed a Proces Verbal.  At no time was she told she could have a lawyer and she said she did not really know what she was signing!!!!!!  She had a bit of a panic attack during the visit and was told as she left she should get a doctor's report and see a lawyer. In retrospect she isnow really worried. I have now been trying to find out her actual rights in this case.  Can she ask for a copy of what she signed?  Can she retract it as she did not really understandthe procedures?    Report

21/04/2008, 19:41 woolybanana'sbrother Joined on 18/01/2008 Posts 992 Re: Wwoofers the law and fingerprints Better still, who dobbed her in it for such a trivial matter, when there is more serious black work going on elsewhere? Looks like the website was being monitored. Pity she signed anything though without a translation or translator being there. Seems like a bit or deliberate harrassment by an enthusisatic gendarme keen to crush a major crime syndicate.          Report

21/04/2008, 19:50 Ron Avery Joined on 29/11/2004 Posts 3,099 Re: Wwoofers the law and fingerprints Washy, Only one answer and a helpful one I hope (as opposed to that above),  your friend must consult a solicitor (Avocat),  nobody on here I think is a qualified French Avocat, so look in Pages Jaune. To my mind she has no other option.  Driven away by an idiot    Report

21/04/2008, 20:14 Washy Joined on 23/08/2004 Corbieres, Aude (11) Posts 332 Re: Wwoofers the law and fingerprints It is strange that the gendarmes did not invite me to be the interpreter????  They always have in the past, perhaps they knew I would encourage her to ask more questions..................    Report

21/04/2008, 20:15 woolybanana'sbrother Joined on 18/01/2008 Posts 992 Re: Wwoofers the law and fingerprints Washy, I cannot believe that anyone could think that your friend would be so naive as not to get a lawyer to sort this little mess out. A French lawyer is an avocat, but that is definitely not a solicitor by the way.    Report

21/04/2008, 20:19 woolybanana'sbrother Joined on 18/01/2008 Posts 992 Re: Wwoofers the law and fingerprints Washy, as I indicated above, I smell a little rattette here. Your friend has been harrassed for some reason. One could speculate about cracking down on foreigners, black work etc, but there is something stinky here. has your friend had any problems with neighbours etc? What is the website she used? Does it make lots of offers for board in return for light duties?      Report

21/04/2008, 23:13 J.R's gone native Joined on 16/07/2006 Picardie, Sussex Posts 1,695 Re: Wwoofers the law and fingerprints Is Wwoofers the "willing workers on organic farms" scheme? - I did some in New Zealand. I watched a DIY programme on french Tv the other night, they showed a guy (with his voice and face scrambled) renovating his Paris apartment using a team of Polish black workers (not black Polish) he found through his Polish femme de menage who he also payed on the black. They were ripping into things and really cracking on like I have never ever seen French artisans, they discussed how much he was saving, how he couldnt either afford the cost or the wait for registered artisans and then he candidly talked about the risks he was taking. He considered an accident de travail to be his biggets risk and reasoned that URSAFF had bigger fish to fry than his works, later they showed the footage to, and interviewed an URSAFF representative who admitted that they had no rights of entry to private property to enforce the law should this site be reported to them. And then I read the above post I sincerely hope that it is a wind-up.    Report

22/04/2008, 9:15 nectarine Joined on 02/08/2007 London & Lot-et-Garonne Posts 180 Re: Wwoofers the law and fingerprints bit of a long shot.  Could your friend get out of this by claiming that she met him on the website and then had a 'relationship' with him and he came to live with her, and did normal spousal duties around the house.  Then the relationship fizzled out and he left.  If no money has passed between them then I think the gendarmes would be hard pushed to be able to prove anything - meeting on a website proves nothing about the actual relationship.  She could say that she was so upset about the breakdown of the relationship that she was in a tizzy at the gendarmerie and didn't know what she was signing... If you look like your passport picture, then you probably need the holiday.    Report

22/04/2008, 9:39 Pierre ZFP Joined on 12/11/2004 PdC(62)/Luxembourg Posts 1,649 Re: Wwoofers the law and fingerprints Brilliant idea!  And it'll give the neighbours something to talk about too You'd think that Les Flicks would have better things to do than worry about the outside possibilty of 30 cents unpaid tax wouldn't you? Fool me once, shame on you Fool me twice, shame on me Fool me 3 times and you can see a statistical tendency    Report

22/04/2008, 9:41 woolybanana'sbrother Joined on 18/01/2008 Posts 992 Re: Wwoofers the law and fingerprints Nectarine I wanted so much to say that last night. Yankee toyboy came to mind but I felt that, given the gravitas of the other posters, it might have caused the earth to move or the sky to fall on my head. Seems reasonable though. But not without a translator present at least    Report

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