The Court Ruling That Could End Unpaid Internships For Good

[xchrom]

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/06/the-court-ruling-that-could-end-unpaid-internships-for-good/276795/

***SNIP

As Becca Greenfield at The Atlantic Wire reported earlier today, this appears to be the first time a judge has banged a gavel and declared definitively that, no, employers can't ask young adults to work in return for the privilege of earning a bit of on-the-job experience. In doing so, Judge Pauley adopted a stringent, six-point test advocated by the Department of Labor to determine whether or not an intern can legally go unpaid.

How stringent are we talking? Well, take a look a the department's language yourself:

The internship, even though it includes actual operation of the facilities of the employer, is similar to training which would be given in an educational environment;

* The internship experience is for the benefit of the intern;

* The intern does not displace regular employees, but works under close supervision of existing staff;

*The employer that provides the training derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the intern; and on occasion its operations may actually be impeded;

* The intern is not necessarily entitled to a job at the conclusion of the internship;

* The employer and the intern understand that the intern is not entitled to wages for the time spent in the internship

Upshot: Nobody loses their job to the intern; the company doesn't benefit from their presence; and the program needs a serious training component along the lines of a vocational school or academic setting. A summer full of filing, data entry, and occasional lunch run would appear to be utterly insufficient to meet this standard. Presumably, a magazine intern wouldn't even be allowed to publish an article, since they'd be helping the publication turn a profit.

[Buzz Clik]

1. I suppose there are circumstances where this is a good thing.

I just hope that it doesn't go too far. Internships are a mandatory part of thousands of degree programs in this country, and the economic environment does not always allow interns to be paid.

My son is currently working as an unpaid intern that violates at least one of those stipulations, but he loves it and the experience is invaluable.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

2. The State Department and the National Endowment for the Humanities...

are conspicuous consumers of unpaid interns. I would argue that, regardless of any stringent definitions, a kid spending the summer working at a U.S. diplomatic post abroad is gaining invaluable life experience.