Should Interns Get Paid?

Should interns get paid? Or, better put, should unpaid interns receive compensation? In these difficult economic times, many recent graduates and students still in school consider doing unpaid internships as a way to get an “in” with an employer, to network and to meet someone who may be in a position to offer them a job. Employers reap the benefit of the unpaid interns work, not having to pay a salary or provide employee benefits. And, of course, they get an eager person who will work long and hard to try to get paying job. There has been much recent press about how unpaid internships exploit the interns and drives down wages for the paid employees. For example, Forbes has a recent article reported as follows:

The once commonplace “opportunity” to forego wages in exchange for work experience and connections may no longer be a viable option by the time summer 2014 rolls around. Bottom line: interns will now have to get paid at least minimum wage to wait in lines to get Cronuts for their bosses.

Although requiring interns to work without pay has been illegal since the minimum wage law was enacted in 1938, until recently unpaid interns seldom brought lawsuits. During the summer of 2013 however, unpaid internships became a hotbed for class action lawsuits. Between June and August, unpaid interns filed lawsuits against large corporations, among them: Condé Nast Publications, Warner Music Group, Atlantic Recording, Gawker Media, Fox Entertainment Group, NBC Universal, Viacom, Sony, Universal Music Group, Bad Boy Entertainment, and Donna Karan.An insightful look on this issue also has been covered by PBS in a news segment and on its website Will Work for Free: How Unpaid Internships Cheapen Workers of All Ages. Even the White House has taken flak in its unpaid internship program. See this link and so-called “good-doers” right here. Under both federal law, the Fair Labor Standards Act, and Maryland law, there is ample authority, that interns should get paid for their work if it is the employer that is primarily benefit from the arrangement. The U.S. Department of Labor just very recently issued a guidance statement, concluding that interns are entitled to get paid, unless an employer can establish all the following elements:

• The internship 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 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 intern understand that the intern is not entitled to wages for the time spent in the internships.

The Fair Labor Standard Act and Maryland wage laws are  intended to not only protect student professionals, but also to protect workers whose wages can be driven down by the free labor of unpaid interns.

Contact us if you think you may be owed wages as an unpaid intern.