The Illegal Internship

The first task to complete at my internship is to hire my replacement. Center for a New Culture wants another feisty young person, willing to work for food and housing, but no pay, at a socially active not-for-profit.

Of course, it's never that simple.

Most unpaid internships are flatly illegal. Or, they are conducted in a way that violates minimum wage laws, and a variety of labor rules. Volunteer work for a for-profit company is also very sticky, as is the provision of room and board. You don't even want to talk about stipends. In some ways, the more an employer wants to give an intern, the more legally suspect they become.

It's hard to follow the law, dammit. And I am trying.








The laws on the matter are clear: an unpaid internship is to benefit the intern. If a person does a job to benefit a company, they are an employee. They must be paid. And no, college credit isn't pay.

The law, simply spoken:

1. An internship should teach you skills, similar to a vocational school.
2. It is for the benefit of the intern. It should help you.
3. You do not replace another employee's function (ie. a secretary, janitor, young professional).
4. The employer that provides the training derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the trainees and on occasion the employer’s operations may actually be impeded.
5. It is not to get a job at the end.
6. Both parties understand that the work is unpaid for training.

If you do work, aren't directly learning, and aren't paid, your employer is breaking the law.





This situation is ironic, in the Alanis Morissette way.

Over the summer, I seethed over this issue.

My friend Lilly was an unpaid intern for the Fenty campaign, working 80 hour weeks, and handling payroll for her department. While I know the culture of campaigns, and I know the availability of funds, this seems impossibly suspect to me. Especially because Lilly handled payroll, which is of vital, "immediate advantage" to her employer which, in my mind, "displaces regular employees." Given Lilly's level of competence, grace, and nose-to-the-grindstone-of-course-I'll-work-weekends, I'm sure she displaced about three paid employees.

Not only did it devalue Lilly, but it was bad business. Funds mean control-- losing control over payroll seems like a terrible idea.

It made me angry. Aries smash.

There was an element of coercion in the way she was treated, and a promise that was the "pay" for her internship: her time, sweat, and tears, would lead to a stellar job. She'd become a leader in the DC political machine.

Of course, that's the culture of DC. Work hard for free as a youngster, earn credit, network gracefully, and finally earn a great job! (In which you're paid mountains, and your job is your life.) The culture breaks the law. So it goes.

I work for people who want to do it better. Also, the Labor Department has recently been cracking down on companies that fail to pay interns properly.

My task: find the rules on volunteer and interns, and ensure that we don't break them. Because if we break them, my wonderful non-profit, Center for a New Culture, dies an ugly financial death.

If I, or a future intern, is found to be an employee, I must be back-paid at minimum wage ($7.25 in Virginia) with time-and-a-half for overtime. I hear the creaking death rattle of our financial stability. Bankruptcy. Fraud. IRS. Audits. Doom. Years of dreams, and acres of land, wasted.

How do you avoid abusing the interns? How do you stay in business? How do you follow the law?


My results? The rulings are decided on a case-by-case basis, using an economic reality test, that determines the expectations and dependence of the intern/volunteer.

If the employer is taking advantage of the intern, it's employment.

Hah. Hah, hah, hah.

We can insure full autonomy and flexibility for interns, we can set expectations so they sign up for no-pay, we can train them to equalize any work they do (which is legal, mostly).

For the time I spend in legal work, Michael teaches me about New Culture. He challenges me, he tells me stories. Sarah gives me logistics of how they set up forums, workshops, and events. I learn how to balance different needs of groups: nudists, polyamorous folks, families with small children, folks with behavioral problems, different ages, cultures, and values. I learn how to own my feelings. I become more mature.

The house is warm, the food is delicious, my neighbor is beautiful, my roommate is kind to me (even when I'm not so kind to myself), and my bosses are my friends.

It's almost as good as pay.

For a month, at least.

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If you'd like more information on this topic, or like to talk about the logistics of setting up an internship, I'm all ears.

Useful Links:
My best guides were at America Reads and Blue Avocado, and of course, the United States Department of Labor. The law I'm often referring to is the Fair Labor Standards Act, or FLSA. I think it does a tremendous amount of good, and I really do want to respect it. The law is to protect individuals from wage slavery, and to keep employers honest. I'm sure my restaurant bosses would have loved to have paid me a "stipend" for my "leadership experience" that would have offered my about $1.00 an hour.


I'd also read this NY Times article that brought wide-spread attention to the issue. Other news sources
offered their takes.

Center for a New Culture has a sister-organization in Oregon, which coincidentally has the strictest State Department of Labor. They actually offer classes in how to have legal internships.

One solution, especially for for-profit companies, is just to disallow all unpaid internships, and just pay interns. Check out the Philly AIGA pledge.