Re: Wwoofers the law and fingerprints

French Legal Issues

Wwoofers the law and fingerprints

Washy 21/04/2008, 19:32
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 I know the French have withdrawn from the WWoofer organisation and have organised their own scheme.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?

Re: Wwoofers the law and fingerprints

woolybanana'sbrother 21/04/2008, 19:41

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.

Do not try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig.

Re: Wwoofers the law and fingerprints

Ron Avery 21/04/2008, 19:50

Washy, Only one answer and a helpful one I hope (as opposed to that Geeked [geek] 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.

Why not post a sensible answer, people will appreciate it more

Re: Wwoofers the law and fingerprints

Washy 21/04/2008, 20:14
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..................

Re: Wwoofers the law and fingerprints

woolybanana'sbrother 21/04/2008, 20:15
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.

Do not try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig.

Re: Wwoofers the law and fingerprints

woolybanana'sbrother 21/04/2008, 20:19

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?

Do not try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig.

Re: Wwoofers the law and fingerprints

J.R's gone native 21/04/2008, 23:13

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 Sad [:(] I sincerely hope that it is a wind-up.

Re: Wwoofers the law and fingerprints

nectarine 22/04/2008, 9:15
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.

Re: Wwoofers the law and fingerprints

Pierre ZFP 22/04/2008, 9:39

Brilliant idea! And it'll give the neighbours something to talk about too Blush [:$]

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?

Remember, apples and blackberrys do NOT count towards your 5-a-day

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