unpaid internships may be illegal, employers may using interns just for free labor

[Liberal_in_LA]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36157424/ns/business-the_new_york_times/

Officials warn they are stepping up labor law enforcement

With job openings scarce for young people, the number of unpaid internships has climbed in recent years, leading federal and state regulators to worry that more employers are illegally using such internships for free labor.

Convinced that many unpaid internships violate minimum wage laws, officials in Oregon, California and other states have begun investigations and fined employers. Last year, M. Patricia Smith, then New York’s labor commissioner, ordered investigations into several firms’ internships. Now, as the federal Labor Department’s top law enforcement official, she and the wage and hour division are stepping up enforcement nationwide.

Many regulators say that violations are widespread, but that it is unusually hard to mount a major enforcement effort because interns are often afraid to file complaints. Many fear they will become known as troublemakers in their chosen field, endangering their chances with a potential future employer.

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Many students said they had held internships that involved noneducational menial work. To be sure, many internships involve some unskilled work, but when the jobs are mostly drudgery, regulators say, it is clearly illegal not to pay interns.

One Ivy League student said she spent an unpaid three-month internship at a magazine packaging and shipping 20 or 40 apparel samples a day back to fashion houses that had provided them for photo shoots.

At Little Airplane, a Manhattan children’s film company, an N.Y.U. student who hoped to work in animation during her unpaid internship said she was instead assigned to the facilities department and ordered to wipe the door handles each day to minimize the spread of swine flu.

[Dr Morbius]

1. Employers using interns just for free labor?

Gee, ya think? I could have told someone this a quarter century ago.

[Caretha]

2. As in Oh yeah

and non-profit national well-known charities are the worse. Oy...I could tell you stories.

[Berry Cool]

18. No, publishers are the worst.

There are way more kids that want to go into journalism than there are jobs or internships. Publishers can get the labor for absolutely free. "It's a resume builder," they tell the eager college student. And the internships are snapped up by kids who have parents or a relative living within commuting distance who is OK with them living there rent free during the internship. As for the kids who don't have any family living within commuting distance of that terrific internship, they're SOL. They're also SOL when it comes to looking for paying jobs, because they won't have that great internship on their resumes.

If you've ever wondered why most of the prominent news media figures you see were born into wealthy East Coast families, well, now you know.

[propaper]

3. Politicians offices are filled with unpaid interns. Do we get to fine them also?

Seriously, 3 out of 5 people that answer the phones either in a local office or DC are "interns".

[Hippo_Tron]

8. Speaking as someone who has done a hill internship, there's not much drudgery

At least during the summer anyway when they have more interns than they can deal with (especially in the Senate offices). Yes they ask you to do some menial tasks but most of the time they pretty much tell you to go sit in on committee hearings. I gave a lot of tours as well.

[applegrove]

4. I did an unpaid internship years ago. I was in the department of the government

that I most wanted to work in. They owed me a great learning experience and I got it. I found out about my strengths and weaknesses. I learnt whereabouts I should be looking for work. It was a great experience.

[Regret My New Name]

13. I don't think those kinds are the problems...

I think they are saying the problem is with "internships" in which the position doesn't offer any learning opportunity in the field, but is rather used for doing related work to avoid having to pay someone to do it...

[kestrel91316]

5. My niece recently (under GWB) did a US STATE DEPT internship in Paris.

One of her jobs was hand-addressing invitations to some big fancy party they were putting on. IIRC she addressed an invitation to Yves Saint-Laurent.

IIRC she also didn't get paid a dime.

[unblock]

6. gee, ya think?

imho, if an internship isn't part of a SUPERVISED course at an accredited college, then it needs to be paid minimum wage, at least.

i understand WHY some people might think that an internship is worth it, to them, even if unpaid, but they're often not right and in any event it's simply not the right thing to do. it's especially unfair to people who can't afford to work for free.

[Retrograde]

17. You took the words out of my mouth (or keyboard)

"it's especially unfair to people who can't afford to work for free."

Luckily the concept of internships wasn't widespread when I was in school: I used the summer as a time to make money to cover my living expenses for the rest of the school year. Eventually I got a decent (for the time) paying job in my field, but I put in a few years in retail and recreation supervision just for the pay. Some employers think highly of internships on resumes, but IMHO they can be code for "hire me, I'm not a lower class peon". They're great if you can afford to pay someone to let you work -after all, you still have expenses - but for a lot of people who are putting themselves through school they're an obstacle.

[unblock]

22. yup ... i think every unpaid intern i've ever known has been from a every privileged background

and i wonder if their parent agreed to "help them with the rent" to compensate.

[SoCalDem]

7. Duh! n.t

[RainDog]

9. this is another way the privileged have access to more privilege

people with student loans cannot afford to take an unpaid internship. people whose parents can float them as they make contacts by working for free, can.

[RainDog]

10. and you are told to take unpaid internships, by career advisors, etc.

so that you will be hired when a position is available. this sometimes happens. sometimes positions don't become available. but you have to have some sort of financial backing to wait it out.

[backscatter712]

12. Yep.

If you've got family with money, you can afford to swing unpaid internships for the networking and experience.

If you're poor, subsisting on student loans, and have to have paid work, you miss out on the internships.

Maybe if the .gov would fund paying for formerly unpaid internships, sort of like work-study programs, so less wealthy people can play the game...

[exboyfil]

14. I was down last at our Medical School last weekend

with my daughters in a Health Care day for Middle Schoolers. To get into Medical School they advised the volunteer thing. I could not help but think that, after working to pay for the Undergraduate degree and studying to get into Medical School, the volunteer requirement seems a little ridiculous.

I think getting a CNA while in High School and doing that work for pay seems to make much more sense (even though trying to find room for the CNA classes in a college prep schedule is going to be difficult).

Coming from an engineering perspective, our internships (coops) have always been compensated, usually quite well given the alternatives.

[SocialistLez]

20. I'm pretty sure my high school

allowed people to take classes to become a CNA.

::does quick search::

Okay, yep. They have classes for people to become CNAs and pharmacy technicians.
Looking back....I kind of wish I had done that so I could be making more money right now during college.

As far as volunteering BEFORE med school...eh. I've looked at the pre-med coursework and it's like,"Who has time to volunteer?!?"
Maybe during the summer time it's feasible but during the school year they're lucky I'm not trying to jump off a bridge from all the stress.

[SocialistLez]

19. Agreed

I heard internships called as "institutionalized class inequality" or something to that effect.

It's possible my parents would let me take an unpaid internship but I'd feel pretty crappy about it. They already do enough for me as it is. No need to add more bills to their plate.

[TexasAggie]

11. yeah

Yeah, I saw this somewhere. I forgot where. I thought it was pretty obvious.

[malletgirl02]

15. I took an unpaid internship

I took an unpaid internship at an nonprofit over a paying data entry job. It was the worst decision I ever made. I tried to find another job in the 3 months afterward, but I didn't. I end up contacting the person who interviewed me for the data entry job. Fortunately she offered me the data entry job again, so I took it. I should have taken the data entry job over the internship when I was offered it in September 2008. I would have been in a better financial position.

[Raineyb]

16. What do you mean may be? n/t

You mean people use unpaid internships to get out of actually paying someone? The hell you say!

[AngryOldDem]

21. I'm shocked! Shocked, I say! n/t