At a hearing held on March 17, 2014, the New York City Council considered testimony on a bill that would grant interns the same rights as other workers for discrimination and harassment under the NYCHRL (NYC Human Rights Law). Currently most of these laws do not expand to interns because they are not deemed “employees.”

Metro US covered the meeting here.

It was once commonplace to forego wages for an opportunity to gain work experience and connections. This may have been put to rest after an influx of unpaid internship lawsuits. Requiring interns to work without pay has been illegal since the minimum wage law was enacted in 1938, however, only recently have unpaid interns brought lawsuits. Between June and August of 2013, unpaid interns filed lawsuits against large corporations, among them: Condé Nast Publications, Warner Music Group, Atlantic Recording, Gawker Media, Fox Entertainment Group, NBC Universal, Viacom, Sony, Universal Music Group, Bad Boy Entertainment, and Donna Karan. Full article.
In June 2013, a New York Federal Court held that Fox Searchlight’s unpaid interns were “employees” subject to the minimum wage and overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Fox Searchlight was unable to show the Court that the company provided “something beyond on-the-job training that employees receive” to unpaid interns. The benefits provided by Fox Searchlight, such as “resume listings, job references, and an understanding of how a production office works,” were insufficient to render the employer exempt from minimum wage and overtime requirement for the interns. The Court determined that the unpaid interns added a value to the company and, in turn, took the place of a regularly paid employee. As such, the company must pay these interns minimum wage and overtime.
Leeds Brown Law PC dedicates a large portion of its practice to the area of employment discrimination. If you worked as an unpaid intern and you believe your rights have been violated, it is important to contact an experienced attorney immediately to preserve your rights. The firm has represented individuals throughout Long Island and the New York City area in matters of wage and hour law. For more information, contact Leeds Brown Law at 1-800-585-4658 for a free consultation or visit leedsbrownlaw.com.

The New York Times, once again, explores the implications of the culture of internships — both social, economic and legal. Check out this article from February 14, 2014.

The article goes on to quote a former intern: “In any given month, I’d say I apply to at least 300 full-time jobs,” she said, noting these attempts were to no avail. “On the other hand, I can apply to one or two internship positions a month and get a call back from both.”

The story continues: “Call them members of the permanent intern underclass: educated members of the millennial generation who are locked out of the traditional career ladder and are having to settle for two, three and sometimes more internships after graduating college, all with no end in sight.”

This is a trend that is all-to-familiar to our clients.

“Lately, however, long-suffering interns are starting to do more than complain. They point to the Labor Department’s six criteria for legal internships, which stipulate that companies that do not pay interns must provide vocational education and refrain from substituting interns for paid employees, among others.”

The article also mentions a pending LB and V&A cases: Warner Music.