There is growing evidence that employers are increasing the number of unpaid internships instead of hiring employees. In some cases, they are displacing workers who would be ordinarily be paid wages for the job. .
According to an article by Steven Greenhouse in the The New York Times on April 3, 2010, officials have begun investigating employers in Oregon, California and other states where many unpaid internships violate the minimum wage laws. They believe that the violations are widespread nationwide.
Many employers are said to have failed to pay even though the unpaid internships did not comply with the six federal legal criteria that must be met. The requirement is that the internship is similar to training given in a vocational school or academic institution and that a regular paid worker is not displaced.
The rules for non-profits is different than for profit-making employers because charities are allowed to use volunteers.
However, employers say that the Labor Department's criteria are out-of-date because they are based on a Supreme Court case from 1947, at a time when apprenticeships were mostly for blue-collar work.
In many cases, internships, paid or unpaid, may serve as a stepping stone that provides an entrance into future jobs. It provides hands-on-experience that they may otherwise lack. Employers believe that there is a benefit and mutual advantage for them and the interns.
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Comments
Not only today is there a rising issue with so-called "Unpaid Internships" but light should also be shed on a new phenomenon that is that of the "Eternal Internship"...
Many of us, part of the summer 2008 and 2009 graduating classes were unfortunately hard-hit by the smack of the recession and the rise in unemployment.
Eager to gain experience and hopeful to one day find jobs, we entered an endless cycle of "Eternal Internships", one after another in hopes of finally reaching "Eternal Employment".
It seems as though there is finaly a some light at the end of the tunnel, but times have been tough and the "Eternal Intern" phenomemon is not one to be ignored (often coupled with the 'unpaid' phenomenon - double whamy!).
If you want to check our story out (my story as well as that of two friends), please check us out at : www.the-eternal-intern.blogspot.com.
We span 2 continents, 3 different cities, 3 different industries...
www.the-eternal-intern.blogspot.com
Excellent article and comment by Fiona. Both the issues of unpaid and eternal internships have become major issues as the use of interns has become mainstream, but with no unified org supporting the rights of interns. As noted the laws surrounding this issue are outdated and based on an old supreme court ruling that states any individual who adds value to a for-profit organization must be paid at least minimum wage (obviously, this law is currently being violated on an enormous scale).
For the law to be pertinent and begin being recognized I think it must adapt more nuanced distinctions. There are some major industries that industry wide do not pay interns. This collusion excludes individuals in lower economic classes access to any job within that industry. Also, a major problem is when businesses have FULL TIME unpaid interns. While both PT and FT unpaid positions are illegal, the ramifications for job equality are much more profound for a full time unpaid position.
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