Posted on 04/03/2010 4:20:51 AM PDT by reaganaut1
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.
The Labor Department says it is cracking down on firms that fail to pay interns properly and expanding efforts to educate companies, colleges and students on the law regarding internships.
“If you’re a for-profit employer or you want to pursue an internship with a for-profit employer, there aren’t going to be many circumstances where you can have an internship and not be paid and still be in compliance with the law,” said Nancy J. Leppink, the acting director of the department’s wage and hour division.
Ms. Leppink said many employers failed to pay even though their internships did not comply with the six federal legal criteria that must be satisfied for internships to be unpaid. Among those criteria are that the internship should be similar to the training given in a vocational school or academic institution, that the intern does not displace regular paid workers and that the employer “derives no immediate advantage” from the intern’s activities
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
This is none of the government’s business.
Fine, I won’t bring any interns in and won’t give any young kids an opportunity to learn. It costs money to bring one of these kids in as they don’t know enough to be productive.
Unbelievable busybodies we have at all levels of government. I have taught many medical students, interns, residents, nurses, and PAs and I know exactly what you are talking about.
Guess the Vet Hosp I work at will end up stop taking interns. I sent this to the office manager.
We are living truly bizarre times. Maobama being elected seems to have unleashed a tidal wave of marxism and statism from all corners of this formerly free country.
I’ve used interns in my accounting office. They needed an internship to complete their associates degree program in accounting. I didn’t pay them, and they didn’t really produce anything.
In the old days, lots of people got their starts that way.
My dad, who would be in his late 80s, told me about working on cars with some old geezer for nothing (late 1930s or early 40s), just to see how it was done. Became an expert mechanic going into the army, a maintenance foreman afterward and later running his own successful body shop working on cars for all the local dealerships as well as the public.
What would be wrong with hiring “interns” every six months to do work for you? You’d NEVER have to pay any money.
My daughter is a recent CPA . She would not take any unpaid internships. She always thought her skills had value.
No wonder she was at the top of her class.
I think the rules apply to only to for profit organizations.
Non profit firms and government agencies seem to be exempt.
(New York) State put freeze on hiring, then added 51,464 people
But state officials hired 51,464 people at a cost to taxpayers of more than $1 billion in salaries, plus fringe benefits, since that decree on July 30, 2008.
My kid’s undergrad internship was unpaid (but it was only in the summer, very flexible hours)...so he had another paying job on the side. A lot of times kids get college credit for the internship.
His graduate school internship was paid, and led to full time employment with the firm.
I had to do a preceptorship in which I was paid nothing to give total patient care in the oncology department in a local hospital. I did everything but administer chemotherapy and blood products. I got “not a penny” but it was required to get a degree in registered nursing. From time to time, I volunteer at a local free clinic. I get nothing, no fee. I’m not stupid. For an intern, the experience itself is payment.
Because of the timing and very few available internships, I took an unpaid internship in the summer at a school district. While it did help me adjust to the office setting and I learned how to use various machines (such as letter folders - big whoop), I did precious little that applied my accounting skills. Other than getting the internship requirement filled, all I ever saw it as getting free help to do monkey work.
“My dad, who would be in his late 80s, told me about working on cars with some old geezer for nothing (late 1930s or early 40s), just to see how it was done.”
There are people now who want to get into pro audio who are willing to PAY one of the ever dwindling number of big studios to let them sit in and watch.
Umm...Sounds like the “Industrial Educational Complex” is feeling a little threatened. We couldn’t possibly replace an expensive eduction with some free “OJT”.
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