{"id":1923,"date":"2014-11-29T10:14:31","date_gmt":"2014-11-29T10:14:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/64.91.227.149\/~theclassactionne\/?p=96"},"modified":"2020-06-04T00:08:13","modified_gmt":"2020-06-04T00:08:13","slug":"unpaid-internships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usclassactions.com\/?p=1923","title":{"rendered":"Unpaid Internships"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Minimum wage laws passed by the Department of Labor apply to protect workers in every state within the United States. Some employers, however, avoid compliance with minimum wage laws by improperly labeling employees as interns, students, trainees and aids.  There are specific requirements associated with classifying a worker as an intern, and those requirements all must be fulfilled in order for an employer to be allowed to hire someone for unpaid work. If you believe you were improperly classified as an intern and did not receive payments equal to at least minimum wage for work you performed, please contact us.<\/a><\/p>\n

The U.S. Supreme Court has made certain requirements for employers to get out of paying an “intern” worker.
\nThere are six requirements employers must meet to avoid paying an “intern”, “trainee”, “aid” or “student” worker.<\/p>\n

The six requirements, according to the Department of Labor, are:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. “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;<\/li>\n
  2. The internship experience is for the benefit of the intern;<\/li>\n
  3. The intern does not displace regular employees, but works under close supervision of existing staff;<\/li>\n
  4. 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;<\/li>\n
  5. The intern is not necessarily entitled to a job at the conclusion of the internship; and<\/li>\n
  6. The employer and the intern understand that the intern is not entitled to wages for the time spent in the internship. “<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    See: U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division Fact Sheet, April 2010<\/a><\/p>\n

    If you have been working without pay but believe you should have been paid, please contact us.<\/a>
    \n<\/strong>
    \nThe National Association of Colleges and Employers found that 55 percent of the class of 2012 had an internship or co-op during their time in college. Almost half of those \u2014 47 percent \u2014 were unpaid. A third of internships at for-profit companies were unpaid. That is a lot of unpaid time. But the trend in the law is not to allow this anymore.<\/p>\n

    Judge William Pauley, who sits on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, ruled that Fox Searchlight\u2019s use of interns in the production of the movies \u201cBlack Swan\u201d and \u201c500 Days of Summer\u201d violated minimum wage and overtime laws, and that those interns can file a class action against the studio. He concluded:<\/p>\n

    They worked as paid employees work, providing an immediate advantage to their employer and performing low-level tasks not requiring specialized training. The benefits they may have received \u2014 such as knowledge of how a production or accounting office functions or references for future jobs \u2014 are the results of simply having worked as any other employee works, not of internships designed to be uniquely educational to the interns and of little utility to the employer. They received nothing approximating the education they would receive in an academic setting or vocational school.<\/p>\n

    A court looks to several factors when deciding whether an internship provides valuable training and whether it benefits the firm or the intern more. Department of Labor\u2019s Wage and Hour Division, which enforces these laws, has a \u201cfact sheet\u201d which sets up six criteria for deciding if an internship is legal or not:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. 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;<\/li>\n
    2. The internship experience is for the benefit of the intern;<\/li>\n
    3. The intern does not displace regular employees, but works under close supervision of
      \nexisting staff;<\/li>\n
    4. The employer that provides the training derives no immediate advantage from the
      \nactivities of the intern; and on occasion its operations may actually be impeded;<\/li>\n
    5. The intern is not necessarily entitled to a job at the conclusion of the internship; and<\/li>\n
    6. The employer and the intern understand that the intern is not entitled to wages for the time spent in the internship.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      So in the Fox Searchlight case, the judge determined the internships in the case satisfied all six requirements.
      \nThere is another case, Xuedan Wang v. The Hearst Corporation, which discusses unpaid interns. In Xuedan, the plaintiff was a former unpaid intern at Harper\u2019s Bazaar. But the judge in that case did not allow the class action, stating that one must look at the \u201ctotality of circumstances.\u201d The class action wasn\u2019t allowed because the plaintiff couldn\u2019t show that all of Hearst\u2019s interns faced similar enough conditions for them to file a suit together.<\/p>\n

      One expert stated, \u201cI think the reasoning [of Fox Searchlight] will stand up strongly and clearly.\u201d This expert believes that for-profit companies\u2019 interns are employees entitled to back pay, and that they constitute a class that can file a class action suit. One expert even goes so far as to argue that even non-profit firms \u2014 which are allowed to have unpaid \u201cvolunteers\u201d \u2014 are likely in violation of the law if they have actual unpaid interns. \u201cJust because you\u2019re working for somebody who\u2019s been classified as a 501(c)3 doesn\u2019t mean you don\u2019t have to treat them like workers,\u201d he says, though he concedes, \u201cInterns would have the burden of proving they\u2019re not volunteers. Somebody is going to have to step up and make the case.\u201d<\/p>\n

      Update: The first version of this article said 52
      \npercent of the class of 2012 had internships or<\/p>\n

      Interns or Trainees Can Get Help and Be Paid in Class Actions
      \nA New Intern Employment Case in New York Has Been Certified as a Class Action.<\/p>\n

      Please contact us<\/a> to learn more and read below for more information.<\/p>\n

      If you have been working without pay but believe you should have been paid, please contact us<\/a>.<\/p>\n

      The federal Department of Labor sets minimum wage laws applicable nationwide. Every employer must abide by minimum wage laws, but some get around the rules by improperly classifying their workers as interns or aids.  An employer may have an unpaid intern only if the internship meets certain qualifying criteria. If you were classified as an intern and did not receive payment for work, you may be entitled to back pay and damages.<\/p>\n

      The U.S. Supreme Court has made certain requirements for employers to get out of paying an “intern” worker.
      \nThere are six requirements employers must meet to avoid paying an “intern”, “trainee”, “aid” or “student” worker.<\/p>\n

      The six requirements, according to the Department of Labor, are:<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. “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;<\/li>\n
      2. The internship experience is for the benefit of the intern;<\/li>\n
      3. The intern does not displace regular employees, but works under close supervision of existing staff;<\/li>\n
      4. 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;<\/li>\n
      5. The intern is not necessarily entitled to a job at the conclusion of the internship; and<\/li>\n
      6. The employer and the intern understand that the intern is not entitled to wages for the time spent in the internship. “1<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        So, if a person has worked but not been paid, the employer must meet the above requirements. If they do not, then they should meet the Fair Labor Standards Act and typically must be pay workers at least the minimum wage and if the worker works more than forty hours in a workweek, then overtime pay should be paid.<\/p>\n

        The most common types of internships involve a classroom or academic setting compared to the employer’s actual operations. Such academic settings usually involve a college or university and academic credit may be awarded for the work.<\/p>\n

        Interns should usually not be participating in routine or recurring activities but rather acquiring skills that could be used in a wide variety of employment settings.<\/p>\n

        If an employer is using interns instead of regular employees to perform job functions, that is usually in indicator that the worker is not really meeting the requirements of the U.S. Supreme Court case.<\/p>\n

        Similarly, if the worker is heavily supervised like a regular employee, they are less likely an “intern.”<\/p>\n

        Trainee positions or “intern” positions should not be used as a “trial” period before regular paid employment. They should also not be a condition of employment.<\/p>\n

        If you have experienced unpaid “intern” or “trainee” work positions but believe they should have been paid according to minimum wage requirements, please contact us<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        The Department of Labor has minimum wage laws that apply to workers who are employed by businesses and companies in every state of the U.S. Some employers have tried to get around the minimum wage laws by calling their workers “interns”, “trainees”, “students” or “aids.” The employers then do not pay the “interns” any wages for the work they do. The employers get free work from workers who are so-called “interns.” But the law requires specific circumstances or situations to exist before an employer can call a worker an “intern.” <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3067,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[29],"class_list":["post-1923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-employment","tag-internships"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usclassactions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usclassactions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usclassactions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usclassactions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usclassactions.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1923"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/usclassactions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1923\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3508,"href":"https:\/\/usclassactions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1923\/revisions\/3508"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usclassactions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usclassactions.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usclassactions.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usclassactions.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}