Are Unpaid Internships Illegal?

The whole business seems ripe for misuse. Worse, it would seem that only well off families could afford to help their children through it. That seems utterly wrong.

Isn't this like an apprenticeship or mentorship?

If the intern gets a desk, electricity and internet access and a computer, aren't these a cost that company has to provide?

Heck, at IBM the interns were paid almost as much as a starting engineer. You must be a loser to need to work for free in order to get a paid job.

I'm reminded of Kramer's intern: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Voice_(Seinfeld)

Unpaid Internship = Modern Slavery

They should just call it volunteer work.

I don't think interns need to be paid. However, I don't think interns should get nothing. They still contribute largely to the work force.

The Netherlands deals with this quite well in my opinion. They require an "internship reimbursement" for the time you worked there. It's not nearly the same as a salary, but it shows that the place is grateful.

Unpaid Internship = Valuable Job Experience

I have to provide their work environment (equipment, desk space, phone, computer, lab space, etc). I have to have insurance to protect them (and me). Real staff have to give up their time (and productivity) to train/guide/supervise the Interns. Interns break/waste things. Interns fubar production runs. (Some) Interns steal expensive things. Finally, I have to spend my time writing reviews on the intern performance.

Unpaid seems like a fair trade.

If we had to pay them - we'd drop them in a heartbeat. No place on our corporate charter does it say "non profit".

Unpaid internships or what ever you want to call getting people to work for you for free is illegal in every other OECD/1st world country in the world - except the US.

Not only is it against international labour laws it is against the national labour laws of every developed country in the world - except the US.

This is to be expected from a country with such a proud tradition of slavery.

@Max

Nice FUD there Max, care to site ANY reference at all backing up your theory?

Because a quick google (as in "unpaid internship in ") find hundreds of hits stating it's OK.

The affluency of a someone's family isn't very helpful in the internship market right now. I've got an older brother who has top grades from a top state university (undergrad) and family with business connections- to no avail. He's finding that the internship market is flodded with MBA students who have years of experience in the real world work environment and are hoping to ride out the recession.

Right now, he'd be pretty happy for any internship at all.

*flooded, not flodded. Though "flodded" is a pretty spiffy word, eh?

As a university professor who wants her students to be competitive in the workforce and get jobs after graduation, I am troubled that these valuable opportunities might begin to disappear. If the student receives training, supervision, and course credit, that should be value enough under the law.

I put myself through college only to realize that the all but required next step was to add an unpaid internship to that expensive degree. This was financially impossible as the loans which paid for said expensive degree were now needing payments. Coupled with cost of living there was no way to continue my internship, thus making my degree practically worthless in finding work.

Unpaid internships are simply out of reach to those of meager upbringing. As such they provide the necessary experience for quality jobs only to those who can afford it and thus furthers class divides.

The idea that I should work for free because you provide me the equipment that is necessary to do the work which you need done is awfully weak. Interning as a student however is not the issue. Provided you are receiving actual work experience and not just mopping floors they will not likely be effected by this (as best I understood).

Whoah I got laid off from Little Airplane last year! I observed all the intern abuse firsthand and warned all my friends still in college to never intern there. All the interns did was sit around until someone asked them to get coffee or take out the trash. What bullshit.

Spending a few months interning as a student is one thing, but I see in a lot of industries that are employer's markets, such as film, magazines, etc, internships are really just a way for employers to avoid having to pay someone to do grunt work. They know people are so desperate for work that they are willing to work for free and exploit it. It's the same situation with people who feel obligated to do lots of unpaid overtime because they're "lucky to even have a job". That's why labour laws were invented.

I've worked as an unpaid intern. I think that some internships can certainly "pay" dividends other than a regular paycheck; some employers can afford to share only their experience and facilities. I was fortunate enough to learn a great deal, and my internship translated directly into a job. That's one of the better scenarios I can imagine. If I'd gotten course credit for my internship, it would've been perfect.

I can, however, see what the article is talking about. The system holds plenty of potential for abuse, and I'm sure that some internships are abusive. It is nerve-wracking to be "wasting" your time without pay when there are loans coming down on your head. Some internships likely do amount to unpaid labor.

Unfortunately, the simple reality is that we can't afford to pay every intern a paycheck. I'm sure all grade-schoolers and college students would love a paycheck for all the work they do (I certainly would have!), but we can avoid paying them because their work is preparatory. A good internship is a furtherance of one's education, and should be treated as such.

Add a considerate stipend, or preferably course credit. I would encourage employers, also, to set a higher bar for internship candidates -- I know that interviews are very time-consuming, but having a higher standard with greater rewards (course credit)might remedy some of the problems on both ends.

Is college course credit considered compensation? Chances are that it is. My internship provided food, board, travel expenses, and training. No money, but it was compensation because I had almost $0 living cost. It felt fair. However, I don't see less then that being fair.

I had to do the internship thing. I hated it. Even in my early career I thought that agreeing to work for free devalues the work, creates an impossible situation for people who can't afford to work for free, and is ripe for abuse.

Now, 15 years later, my company has interns occasionally. I try to make sure they are given tasks that will benefit them and add to their experience, not just crappy coffee/cleanup/archiving work. If we have an intern in, I try to schedule my editing jobs so that there is time for an intern to slow things down a little bit with questions and what-not. Within reason, of course, I also have to think of the client. But i'm not usually directly responsible for interns, so they still end up sorting tapes sometimes.

Generally I feel that even an inexperienced worker should get some compensation for their efforts, and I usually lobby for them to receive, at the very least, some kind of honorarium.

@max, btw unpaid internships are perfectly legal in Canada, do your homework before posting!

"Don't shoot him, he's an unpaid intern."

@ Golov - State/Fed Gov are not for profit companies. If they did pay the interns in these positions you would probably complain about them soaking up your tax dollars or some other asinine complaint.

For-profit companies can definitely pay their interns. All the places I have ever worked with interns, they weren't exactly given assignments that would cause the organization to lose gobs of money. Nope, they were unpaid gophers and trash men.

You do a day's work, no matter how unskilled, you should be paid.

I don't get what everyone is complaining about. I am young and recently graduated from College. I would love the opportunity to work with people in my field who can mentor/provide guidance. An unpaid internship was an UNPAID internship when you signed up for it. If you don't like the way they treated you, go somewhere else! The idea that you would feel stuck in that situation is absurd. I get feeling stuck in a job because you need the money, but if they're abusing you, you obviously don't need that experience. (We know you're not getting money.) A college graduate has many job opportunities available to them. If you want to be paid for your services, work for McDonald's (with a degree, you can probably even be a manager!) People CHOOSE unpaid internships because they don't want to settle for just *any* job. They want the best. That requires sacrifices. (If you choose to make them.)
Raising this issue and comparing it to modern day slavery is wrong. There are women and immigrants that are bought and sold to be prostitutes. They are told they or their family will die if they do not offer themselves as living sex toys to men. This is sick. This is modern day slavery.... A young kid, willing to work for free is not slavery. That is volunteering.

It's unfair to recent grads and people who are trying to get experience in a field. How can you compete when someone's giving their services away for free?

For the companies, why should they buy the cow when they can get the milk for free?

This is nepotism at work, plain and simple. Many of the desirable jobs require that you first gain experience in an unpaid internship, which is obviously impossible for the working class (no matter how skilled they may be).

I currently hold an enviable position at a company that I had to fight my way into, and I can't tell you how many dip-shit rich kids with virtually no redeeming value I've seen skate right in because their parents could afford to pay their rent and bills for them well into their 20s.

It's not at all fair, but it is actually quite legal so long as it's part of a vaguely defined "for credit" program.

As a parent who has paid top dollar for both of my daughters to attend two of the most prestigious art schools in the country, in two of the most expensive cities in the country, the internships they have worked at, while providing some work experience in their field, amounts to nothing more than slave labor. If these schools, that claim their degrees will provide them with the education and skills needed to enter the workforce, then why should they allow their students to accept no monetary gain in return? Schools should provide their students with job fairs, and a list of companies who value the education and talent that these young adults supply. It may not have to be minimum wage, but how about lunch? how about a rest break?

If these companies are for profit, then they should be required by law to paid some kind of stipend. The fashion world has to be the worst offender of all. One daughter worked in the field after graduating, with the idea that the internship in her field would provide her with additional necessary skills needed to advance, Instead she was treated like a basic hostage. Long hours, harassing tones, no breaks, late and long hours, that in the end provided her with nothing more than clerk skills. These companies steal the initiative, talent and ideas of our young people, for no pay.

Kids need to stand up and demand compensation. Any respectable company that is worth working for is one which is willing to pay for the ideas, information and hard work that these students provide.

I would have been better giving my children the 100k a year that it has cost me, let them stay home and learn how to invest that money, and ten years down the road they would be able to start their own companies.

Don't allow yourself to be taken advantage of! Demand pay for the work you do! Complain to your school administration to provide you with a list of companies who are willing to compensate you for your ideas and hard work. NY has to be the WORST offender in this area.

Angry Parent,

Thank you. Your words helped me feel a bit better. I come from a poor family. I grew up living in poverty my whole life, and was told time and time again, that being smart, getting good grades, and being talented would take me places. I graduated from a top art school for video game design in May, and was immediately selected to interview for a major film company opening up due to the film incentive being offered. After viewing my work, I was told "We could definitely use you!!". Then promptly offered 0$. A friend of mine, who had experience working for a crappy game company out of someone's basement, who had comparable skill as I, was offered 65,000,000$. I was insulted. As soon as I mentioned I was hoping for a paid internship, just so I could afford gas, I was shown the door. And these monsters are getting money from the film incentives! Yet they can't pay me so much as a dime! It really hurts inside to know I graduated with honors, spent every cent I made and took out loans to pursue my dream in a field I was great at, just to be told I'm worth nothing only because I don't have a longer resume. Unpaid internships like this are illegal, but who do you contact to enforce that?? I've looked, and I can't find any information on how to report these slime balls. Unless you're currently or previously employed with them, you don't even have grounds to complain. But who would accept such a position if they weren't okay with it?? Maybe that's why it's so prevalent...

Never ever work for nothing. You get up in the morning, have to pay rail/bus fare to go to work anyway, the employer is having your time. Why work for an employer who values you so badly that they won't even pay the minimum wage. You are laying yourself open to all sorts of abuse from bad employers who treat low-paid workers like whipping posts anyway. It's a bad deal and only rich kids can afford to work for nothing anyway.