March 12, 2013
The aphorism that ‘people go to work for the love of their work and for the money’ is overlooked in part by employers using interns to accomplish real work. A recent class and collective action case filed in federal court in NY by a former unpaid intern of the Elite Model Management Corporation “seeking at least $50 million for unpaid wages, overtime and benefits” should remind us of the money part. It is also a wake up call for educational and other training institutions placing interns, and for businesses using them, that there are no bright line rules for whether a particular unpaid internship comports with the FLSA. As a result, unpaid interns are increasingly filing wage and hour claims.
- 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; and
- The employer and the intern understand that the intern is not entitled to wages for the time spent in the internship.