A friend of mine residing in Montana was offered to live “rent-free” at a ranch/barn. The lease stipulated that she would provide labor in exchange for shelter and utilities. Normal rent in that place plus utilities would be about $1000 per month.
Well, she ended up working about 60 hours per week until they kicked her out without proper notice or an eviction order. No matter how you parse that out, it ended up being far less than minimum wage, even without calculating the overtime pay.
Is that legal? Is there a case for lost wages?