Can a 16 year old work in a body shop?

Well $5 bucks an hour for a teen is a pretty good deal considering he doesn't have to pay rent. I guess he could aks for more pay but I doubt he'll get a "real" job in this economy. I'm guessing the teen doesn't want to work at all and you misunderstood him.

Yes, a parent is allowed to put his/her minor child to work in the family business. Now, there are still some restrictions about the machinery that the minor can operate, but if the minor is working under the parent's supervision, then the laws are less strict. It will depend on which state this is in. Also, this minor child is not entitled to ANY money. What's more, even if he got a job at McDonald's or someplace similar, the parent could take ALL the money that the minor earns. There might be some specific parts of this that are against the law, but generally speaking, yes, a parent can force his/her minor child to work in the family business, without paying the child at all. I'm not sure about the hours, but if this is during the summer and the child is not attending school, then the child can work for quite long periods of time. Getting a C average is not "doing OK", it's doing rather poorly. Doing OK is getting As and Bs. The father is probably trying to impress upon this son that if he doesn't apply himself in school, then he can look forward to hard, dirty work for the rest of his life.