Ask the Lawyer

Employment Law

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Q: I obtained a summer internship through my college career center in a field relevant to my major. I am working full-time for a private, for-profit employer. However, I am not getting paid. Is this legal? Am I entitled to at least minimum wage?

A: The use of unpaid interns at for-profit businesses has been challenged in courts throughout the country. Recently, in Glatt v. Fox Searchlight Pictures, 2013 WL 2495140 (S.D.N.Y. 2013), a federal court in the Southern District of New York considered the issue of whether unpaid interns for Fox Searchlight Pictures were covered by the protections of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The plaintiffs in Glatt were unpaid interns who assisted in the production of the film “Black Swan” in New York and California. The interns argued that they were “employees” under the FLSA and entitled to minimum wage and overtime protections. In making its determination, the court was guided by six criteria for determining whether an internship may be unpaid:

1. The internship, even though it includes actual operation of the facilities of the employer, is similar to training which would be given in an educational environment;

2. The internship experience is for the benefit of the intern;

3. The intern does not displace regular employees, but works under close supervision of existing staff;

4. The employer that provides the training derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the intern, and on occasion its operations may actually be impeded;

5. The intern is not necessarily entitled to a job at the conclusion of the internship; and

6. The employer and the intern understand that the intern is not entitled to wages for the time spent during the internship.

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