Thanks for asking!
Below, you'll find information about unpaid Internships in two
sections, Internships in General, and Washington D.C. in Particular,
as well as several links for further study.
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INTERNSHIPS IN GENERAL
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According to Steven Rothberg of College Recruiter, "Whether an
employer must pay an intern for their work depends on the experience
they will receive. Although the Fair Labor Standards Act requires
employers to pay at least the minimum wage to employees, the U.S.
Department of Labor (DOL) has developed six criteria for identifying
which learners/trainees may be unpaid. Apparently, the DOL's use of
"learner/trainee" is equivalent to the commonly used term of "intern."
Must Interns Be Paid? by Steven Rothberg
http://www.collegerecruiter.com/pages/articles/article406.html
The criteria are:
1. The training, although it includes actual operation of the
facilities of the employer, is similar to that which would be given in
a vocational school.
2. The training is for the benefit of the students.
3. The students do not displace regular employees, but work under the
close observation of a regular employee or supervisor.
4. The employer provides the training and derives no immediate
advantage from the activities of students, and, on occasion, the
operations may actually be impeded by the training.
5. The students are not necessarily entitled to a job at the
conclusion of the training period.
6. The employer and the student understand that the student is not
entitled to wages for the time spent in training.
These criteria are discussed in detail by Rochelle Kaplan in "Legal
Issues Surrounding Internships."
"Of those criteria, three are very straightforward. Interns cannot
displace regular employees. They are not guaranteed a job at the end
of the internship. And they are aware that they are not entitled to
wages during the internship. In many cases, employers pay a stipend to
students for meals and lodging or provide tuition assistance. Stipends
and tuition assistance are not considered payment of wages for the
purpose of determining whether a student is an employee. Likewise, the
fact that an employer may ultimately hire the student does not make
the intern an employee as long as the employer did not promise the
student a job prior to or during the internship.
A bit trickier are the criteria regarding training. For one, interns
must receive training from the company even if it impedes operations,
for example, by taking time away from work to provide the training.
Two, the training must be similar to that provided by a vocational
school. That is, the intern must get hands-on experience with
equipment and processes used in the company. And three, the training
must primarily benefit the student, not the company. Since the intern
would be learning work skills and procedures that are relevant to his
or her field, wouldn’t that be benefiting the employer? Several court
rulings, while not addressing the criteria head on, seem to suggest
that as long as the internship is a prescribed part of the curriculum,
is part of the school’s educational process, and is predominately for
the benefit of the student, the fact that the employer receives some
benefit from the student’s services does not make the student an
employee for purposes of wage and hour law.
Not all six factors have to be present for a student to be considered
a trainee; rather the experience should ultimately look more like a
training and learning experience than a job."
The full discussion is available here:
Legal Issues Surrounding Internships, by Rochelle Kaplan
PDF: http://www.sahrma.org/studentchapter_legal_issues.pdf
HTML: http://216.239.51.104/search?q=cache:tfRC2utnmYsJ:www.sahrma.org/studentchapter_legal_issues.pdf+internship+minimum+wage+waiver&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
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WASHINGTON D.C. IN PARTICULAR
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The Washington D.C. Chamber of Commerce has prepared a document for
Employers, entitled "Paid and Unpaid Internships." The document
explains employers responsibilities under the federal Workforce
Investment Act, the School-to-Work Opportunities Act, and the
exemption from the Fair Labor Standards Act. On page 10:
"CAN A STUDENT WORK AS AN UNPAID INTERN?
The STWOA says that a student will not be considered an employee if
all the following criteria are met:
1. The student receives ongoing instruction at the employer’s work
site and receives close on-site supervision throughout the learning
experience, with the result that any productive work the student would
perform would be offset by the burden to the employer from the
training and supervision provided.
2. The placement of the student at the work site during the learning
experience does not result in the displacement of any regular
employee, i.e., the presence of the student at the work site cannot
result in an employee being laid off, cannot result in an employer not
hiring an employee the employer would otherwise hire, and cannot
result in an
employee working fewer hours than the employee would otherwise work.
3. The student is not entitled to a job at the conclusion of the
learning experience (although employers should not be discouraged from
offering employment to successful graduates).
4. The employer, student, and parent or guardian understand that the
student is not entitled to wages or other compensation for the time
spent in the learning experience (although a student may receive a
stipend
for expenses, such as books or tools). When all four of the above
student criteria are met, an employer would not be required to pay
wages to students enrolled in an STW/WIA learning experience. The
Federal Labor Standards Act (FLSA) does not apply except for the
section on Hazardous Occupations.
Paid&Unpaid Internships Handbook for Employers
Washington, D.C. Chamber of Commerce
http://www.dcchamber.org/site/docs/Workforce%20Resources/wfdpaidint.pdf
Some D.C. Internships are not only unpaid -- they charge application
and tuition fees. See:
The Institute for Experiential Learning
Admission Costs and Information
http://www.ielnet.org/admission.html
FURTHER STUDY
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Department of Labor - Fair Labor Standards Act
The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as Amended
(29 U.S.C. 201, et seq.)
http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/statutes/whd/0002.fair.pdf (PDF Version)
Additional Provisions Related to the Fair Labor Standards Act
http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/statutes/whd/0003.fair.pdf (PDF Version)
Employment of Student-Learners, Apprentices, Learners, Messengers, and
Student Workers; Final Rule
http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/fedreg/final/97032009.htm
Reviewing FLSA Rules on Volunteers and Interns, by Jeffrey Pollack
New York Law Journal, March 11, 2002, Page A-1.
http://www.mintzandgold.com/FLSAvolunteerspjcut.htm
What Free Labor Could Cost You, by Leonard D. DuBoff
http://www.business-law.com/ci/192.html
Google Search Terms
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"intern contracts" "minimum wage" legality
internship "minimum wage laws" legality
internship minimum wage waiver
"fair labor standards act" interns vocational school "washington d.c."
Institute for Experiential Learning Washington DC
If anything I've said is unclear, or if you (oh no!) discover a broken
link, please let me know, and I'll make it right.
---larre |
