<p>This ruling will no doubt cut both ways. Implications could reach far beyond the film industry...</p>
<p>“A Federal District Court judge in Manhattan ruled on Tuesday that Fox Searchlight Pictures had violated federal and New York minimum wage laws by not paying production interns, a case that could upend the long-held practice of the film industry and other businesses that rely heavily on unpaid internships. Employers have already started to take a hard look at their internship programs,” said Rachel Bien, a lawyer for the plaintiffs. “I think this decision will go far to discourage private companies from having unpaid internship programs.”</p>
<p>Our son had several paid internships while our daughter had an unpaid internship. I think that they were all valuable. I do believe that there is abuse and cases (perhaps a lot of cases) where interns are essentially gofers where they don’t really learn anything other than what a work environment is like - there is some value to that but I don’t think that that’s always enough to justify no pay.</p>
<p>I’m sure that there are lots and lots of unpaid internships in progress right now and that many of those interns are happy to have what they have. But it could cause a lot of turmoil if a few started to sue. I’d assume that employment lawyers are looking at this case too.</p>
<p>An unpaid internship was one of the best things I’ve ever done. They will cut the internship because they cannot turn up money. I didn’t do “office duties” like an office worker, I was able to do the projects I wanted to do and learned a TON. </p>
<p>I see both sides as well. However, the experience, for me, was invaluable and I’d hate to see that not be an option later on. </p>
<p>For those who are using interns as the coffee person though rather than hiring someone, well that’s an issue.</p>
<p>As I understand it, the federal government is not covered by the same laws private corporations are in this area. They will continue to have unpaid interns even if this ruling pushes private corporations to pay their interns for their work.</p>
<p>I’d note that there are many public agencies and nonprofits who do pay their interns. Also, many nonprofit internships are funded via outside grant money – but it’s a lot harder to find a grant-giving organizations willing to subsidize work in the profit sector.</p>
<p>Unpaid internships can effectively screen for students from wealthy families (whether or not this is the intention), since those from non-wealthy families may need to find paid work.</p>
<p>Paying interns is still a GREAT deal for private employers. They get to date the job candidate cheaply for 3 months before having to commit to marriage.</p>
But not such a good thing for the student who is at a disadvantage in the job market because you could afford to forego a paid job and he couldn’t. And not such a good thing for the employee whose paying job has been replaced by an endless stream of interns like you who are willing, nay, desperate, to work for nothing. The whole internship system, which didn’t even exist when I went to college (and amazingly, we all found jobs in our fields anyway), is a blight on the job market and an unfair advantage for the affluent. Hopefully the long-delayed enforcement of the wage and hour laws will put an end to it.</p>
<p>It seems to me that in a free country, you should be permitted to donate or sell your own labor as you see fit. </p>
<p>An unpaid internship has built in limitations without all these laws. No one is going to work hard and for free for very long. Most of these internships are for a short duration (a summer), and may provide experiences that a particular person would otherwise be unable to obtain because perhaps they really aren’t a very competitive job candidate.</p>
<p>I think you could easily argue that the children of the wealthy actually will benefit more without unpaid internships because it is much, much easier for them to network their way into difficult-to-obtain job environments (professional sports, theater, high finance, etc.). An unpaid internship could at least open a door for someone who is talented, but who may not have connections through their parents. Shutting that door just makes it tougher.</p>
<p>A lot of companies will not pay for what these interns do . . .for a three-four month time period. It takes a month to just get oriented, and then students need to return to school just as they have learned enough to truly contribute. So maybe some of them will become paid opportunities, but many of them will just vanish. Leaving students with even fewer ways to get experience that they can leverage into a paying job, or worse, not even giving them exposure to various industries so they can ascertain if a particular area truly is for them.</p>
<p>I have to agree in part with Mommaj. When I went with my son to his acceptance day at his Engineering college this year, someone asked about co-ops and internships. The professor said that they had more requests for Engineering interns that they could supply. The mother looked skeptical, so the professor turned to her and said that the reason was that were companies figured out that they could get Engineers at very low prices.
I also understand the need of internships to gain experience in ones field ( my son is a paid intern at a biomedical company and loves it) . I guess a few years back, internships could be seen as the get to learn the job and then you are hired, while now is just get to learn the job until I find another intern.</p>
<p>That’s relative, though. Low prices for a trained engineer, but these people are still college students gaining experience. I know somebody who’s been able to pay the bulk of his living expenses for the entire year with what he makes in his six-month engineering co-op, so they’re paid well for co-ops who have less then a year of professional experience and no degree.</p>
<p>I work at a non-profit and we do not pay our interns. We give them good experience and I would argue that they are not taking the place of staff. They work with really close supervision, and they’re usually part time for three months or less. They come out of it with good office experience and really good working knowledge of one of the most common software programs in our field.</p>
<p>I have mixed feelings about it. I’ve never had a completely unpaid internship or co-op. I did do one co-op for a stipend that worked out to around $5 an hour, but it was the best professional experience that I got. We just don’t have the money at this point in time to pay interns. Most of our interns do have other jobs and are only with us one or two days a week because they do need to support themselves. Because of the pay issue, I am particularly conscientious about giving them a good experience, explaining the background behind the work they are doing, seeing if there are other areas they wanted to explore, etc.</p>
<p>I absolutely don’t think for-profit companies should have unpaid interns, though. I know it’s really common in the television world, and those companies can afford to pay.</p>
<p>Interesting anecdote, wegotin. I have a son who is also pursuing engineering. But, my understanding is that most Engineering internships are paid ones? Probably the demand is forcing companies to pay at least something in order to get decent engineering students? </p>
<p>But, I don’t think the law is going to say that interns must be paid and that they must be paid the going rate of existing professionals . . .also, I do question the concept hiring a string of interns at low rates provides nearly the value of someone who becomes familiar with the environment and the specific needs of that environment. </p>
<p>I wonder if in engineering there is a very high demand for interns in part because there is a high demand for engineers, and in this case, it is the company “getting a foot in the door” iin terms of getting to know good potential hires early on and getting a chance to perhaps hire those students first upon graduation . . .</p>
<p>MommaJ, I worked full time along with my unpaid internship. I was that disadvantaged, full pell student and I still believe it was an incredible opportunity.</p>
<p>Amen, MommaJ and ucbalumnus. Unpaid internships VASTLY favor the wealthy and well-connected and allow employers to shirk their responsibilities as a result. </p>
<p>I have an acquaintance who was able to use his connections to get two of his kids started in the careers of their dreams–one in professional sports management and one in advertising–by hitting up contacts from his own business. He and his wife paid for them to live in expensive cities while they were doing their internships (one was a year long). The kids are now “launched” and several steps ahead of their peers who did not have such advantages. And so it goes.</p>
<p>I’m OK with unpaid internships as long as there is college credit given for them. I did an unpaid internship back in the 70s and received the equivalent of 2 colleges classes toward my major credit requirements. I’m not OK with unpaid internships that do not award college credit AND are uncompensated.</p>