Unpaid Internship Regulations: U.S. Department Of Labor Releases New Criteria

Following a rash of negative publicity relating to unpaid internships -- including young workers who were forced to sanitize door handles and sweep bathrooms for no pay -- the U.S. Department of Labor has released a new set of standards for interns.

The fact sheet provides a list of six criteria for interns to determine whether or not their post is fair. A legal internship must be "similar to training which would be given in an educational environment" and beneficial to the intern, including close work with existing employees. For unpaid internships, workers must clearly understand the position is unpaid and also be informed that a job offers are not guaranteed.

According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, some schools fear that the restrictions might mean fewer internship opportunities for students.

[Messiah College director of internships Michael] True worried that "employers would just pull in the carpet and say, 'I'm sorry, we're not going to offer those,'" he said. "'This is just too big a risk for us.'"

But most agree that a closer relationship between schools and the Department of Labor will be beneficial for future interns.

When colleges and employers work together, internships can be valuable educational experiences, [Janet Nepkie, a professor of music and music industry at the State University of New York at Oneonta] said. "I can offer assurance to companies that we will be able to show compliance," she said. "We have a partnership here."

What do you think? Are you in favor or against these new stipulations? Also, Do you have an internship lined up for this summer? Is it paid?

Comments

[MeInFla]

10:51 AM on 05/05/2010

where does an unpaid intern proding oral sex to a President fit into these giudlines? And was that factored into the "rash of negative publicity relating to unpaid internships"? Just askin'

[MeInFla]

10:57 AM on 05/05/2010

should read "providing", although I am sure a little proding was going on too....

[SonicUltimate]

10:40 PM on 04/23/2010

An unpaid internship is fine if the internship in question actually provides valued work experience ( read: valued enough by the intern to forgo pay). What isn't fine, and what the regulations are attempting to address, are unpaid "internships" that are no more than menial labor that can be filled with any temp agency.

Holding organizations liable for providing compensation, in the form of professional experience, pay or both isn't a bad thing. Those organizations that "can't afford" to compensate interns, which is BS as providing experience for free labor is free to the organization, weren't providing meaningful experiences for their interns anyway. Better for them to leave the pool than to artificially inflate it.

[anyoneoutthere]

07:38 PM on 04/23/2010

Unpaid internships are exploitative unless they take place in not-for-profit organizations.
They may help some people find a job or gain experience, but that is only good if seen from a single individual's perspective. As a social trend it is not good. Unpaid internships do not generate more overall paid positions, which is what is needed. The person who got a job as a result of an unpaid internship may be happy that he or she got ahead, but for every one such person there are the rest who didn't.

A business can pay to train someone if they see them as a future investment.
The idea that business can't afford to train people sprouts from the unspoken assumption that they must make money on every employee from day one. That is not a law of nature.

[Jesse in Maryland]

08:37 AM on 05/06/2010

Since we are all only "single individuals" who make the best with what we have, unpaid internships are a great options for people who want to improve their skills and experience in a specific industry. Unions are great from a single, unionized individual's perspective, but they have a harmful effect on the industries they "serve". As a social trend, unions have long outlived their usefulness.

If unpaid interns feel they are being exploited, they can quit. That's the beauty of the free market. They are there to get experience, which they can use to advance their later starting salaries or land better jobs. Internships are not supposed to generate more paying jobs for the people who don't do them. I say, kudos to the interns who are working to get ahead, and for all those who didn't get ahead, I say, get an internship. No one is stopping you.

[KCTruby]

12:28 AM on 05/10/2010

This is obviously opinion without letting facts get in the way. Our interns leave the summer with a wide exposure to real life business. By the way profit is NOT a dirty word.

[PolytheneSpam]

12:58 AM on 06/15/2010

When the profit motive leads to the exploitation of workers, business DOES get dirty.

[ChiKevin]

02:06 AM on 04/23/2010

Hello all,

Against unpaid internships:

They or their children cannot afford to attend such internships because a college education is to costly and debt is too high. Therefore, their inability to afford such internships allow the wealthy to gain an unfair advantage. Also, these internships put themselves or their children in inappropriate work environment.

For unpaid internships:

Unpaid internships are a great way to gain industry experience from employers. Some of these employers cannot afford to pay their interns, and further restrictions will eliminate these opportunities completely.

The problem does not lie in the cost of the internship, but instead the cost of the education. The internship is FREE, the only cost is time. While the education can cost up to 40,000 dollars a year from private institutions. Also, to do well in such institutions and get these PAID jobs time is also a necessity.

The internships are not the problem. It is the cost of an education. This PAID FOR education is obtained for the same reason as this FREE education. You better believe that these institutions are profiting. I point at the University of Rochester, the largest employer in Rochester, NY. This school has an undergraduate population of 4000-5000 students, yet employes more people than Kodak.

The problem is $$$, therefore something that required $$$ is the problem, not the thing that is free!

THIS WILL HAVE A MUCH LARGER IMPACT ON SMALL BUSINESSES, NOT THE LARGE ONES ALREADY IN CONTROL!

[ChiKevin]

02:08 AM on 04/23/2010

Free internship*

[SkipTumalu]

01:04 AM on 04/23/2010

Oh the irony. All current positions listed on Huffington's Careers page are for unpaid internships. Don''t believe me? Click "Careers" at the bottom of the page. If Ariana does it, it must be OK, right?

[anyoneoutthere]

07:22 PM on 04/23/2010

On the one hand, journalism has had a long history with unpaid internships.
On the other hand, it's not OK.
Good catch.

[NoMansLand]

07:50 PM on 04/22/2010

Many of us who have graduated from college in the past few years have no other options. I graduated with a degree in design from a great private university in Philadelphia. I've done just about everything imaginable to find employment. I ended up working for a year plus in retail. Thank the heavens I had parents that could afford to help subsidize my living expenses. Now after two years of searching through job boards, job fairs and networking events..I've decided to volunteer three days a week. I am technically called a "volunteer" because I have already graduated and will not be receiving educational credit. It was between that and sitting at home all day.

Is working for free fair? No. However, for many of us with only three prior internships and some professional experience, this is the only option. Most employers require solid work history (internships do not count). I understand that I am basically a horse with a carrot in front of its nose. I am working with the hope that if a position becomes available I would have a shot or at the very least, to show prospective employers that I tried to keep busy.

No one is offering another solution? Would you rather I work some low-paying job receiving little no experience or skills applicable to my field/course of study? What do all of you employed, minted professionals suggest I do?

[Dynamohum]

04:14 PM on 04/22/2010

It is still incredibly WEAK. I was an intern in a computer firm that did target marketing and market segmentation. I learned many many things. Programming, analysis,planning,technical writing,operations,service desk operations, etc. However, at least the company paid me $6 hour because they knew as a student I had expenses!

In my opinion, an internship should absolutely pay minimum wage, at a minimum. Most internships I have heard or read about, the intern does directly contribute for the benefit of the company as well as themselves. Most interns do provide an "extra" employee. I know even though I was learning at mine, I also contributed quite a lot.

[jasev01]

03:08 PM on 04/22/2010

Thank goodness someone is finally doing something. As cobert said, I know this country was built on unpaid internship labor but I thought we got rid of that after the civil war.

[gfs5541]

03:07 PM on 04/22/2010

This is a good thing. A lot of companies get away with using students as unpaid interns, even enticing them with earning a salary if they just keep showing up. This hurts the student if they are taking a specific amount of college credits. It's pathetic, it's a perversion of why the students are there and there must be written guidelines to regulate this. Either pay the students a salary or don't expect a day's work!

[gfs5541]

03:00 PM on 04/22/2010

This is good thing. A lot if

[jwoww]

02:51 PM on 04/22/2010

I heard Kramerica Industries has good internship programs

[landonswan]

03:34 PM on 04/22/2010

"in an apartment that may or may not contain a chicken"

classic

[AejB]

10:41 PM on 04/22/2010

The first intern should be getting out of jail next year.

[Nathan Sugg]

02:51 PM on 04/22/2010

Next, we should really be looking at policing State Work Study programs. At least in Washington, the State has a pretty legitimate interest since they're paying 65% of the wages for those "educational" experiences.

[landonswan]

02:37 PM on 04/22/2010

Seems like the choice should be the intern's not the government's.

[Altruth]

02:50 PM on 04/22/2010

You mean that child labor laws should have been left up to the children? You can't be serious!

[landonswan]

02:52 PM on 04/22/2010

I assumed we were talking about adults, since the article references college students.

[gfs5541]

03:27 PM on 04/22/2010

This not going to work. In my view, there should be a written contract between the college, the student and the company as to the number of hours that student should work, whether or not there's a salary, what the job duties are and a process should the company want to hire that student. Otherwise, the student is at the mercy of trying to get some college credits and the unfulfilled promise of a job.

[landonswan]

03:33 PM on 04/22/2010

What is stopping the intern from asking for that contract? If the company doesn't comply, the intern can go elsewhere.

[thatboyzachary]

02:31 PM on 04/22/2010

I'm a chemical engineering student, who is about do start my third internship with the same company this summer, who pays me fairly well.

My opinion about unpaid internships is companies are only doing it because they can get away with it. How difficult would it be for a company to make a productive employee out of a student who is well on their way to a degree, to where their value to the company is greater than $10 an hour. The reason interns are liabilities to some companies is that their "mentors" are unable to give them work that is meaningful to the student and the company.

I have no doubt in my mind that any college student's ability is worth less than $10 an hour. That's why we go to school.

[Postacademic]

02:29 PM on 04/22/2010

Speaking of which, has anyone seen the unpaid internship mock-up on McSweeneys? It's a pretty funny but the sad thing is that almost reads like some of the real postings for internships these days.

http://www.mcsweeneys.net/2010/4/21loew.html

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