New study raises questions on legality of unpaid internships

Correction Appended

The U.S. Department of Labor has rules in place to regulate companies’ practices of hiring unpaid interns, but a study recently released by the Economic Policy Institute brought into question the clarity of the Department of Labor’s regulatory methods.

The EPI, a non-partisan think tank in D.C., released the study Friday with corrections and updates from a study previously released four days earlier. The study, called “Not-So-Equal Protection — Reforming the Regulation of Student Internships,” stated that the rules regarding compensation and employment for interns are unclear and not enforced in some cases.

Six Department of Labor factors to evaluate whether a worker is a trainee or an employee for the purposes of the Fair Labor Standards Act: 1. The training, even though it includes actual operation of the facilities of the employer, is similar to what would be given in a vocational school or academic educational instruction. 2. The training is for the benefit of the trainees. 3. The trainees do not displace regular employees but work under their close observation. 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. The trainees are not necessarily entitled to a job at the conclusion of the training period. 6. The employer and the trainees understand that the trainees are not entitled to wages for the time spent in training. SOURCE: "Advisory: Training and Employment Guidance Letter No. 12-09," released Jan. 29, 2010 by the U.S. Department of Labor.

This letter included a list of six factors that should be used to identify a worker as a “trainee” or an “employee,” as defined by the Fair Labor Standards Act. If the worker can be defined as a “trainee,” he or she is not covered by minimum wage provisions.

However, the EPI study claims the six factors are not enough and that students often go unprotected from employer abuses. (See www.theagleonline.com for a full list)

“In various letters to employers, the Department of Labor found that it could not determine conclusively whether an unpaid internship program that offered college credit met the six-point test, given the blurred lines between student work and the educational experience of an internship,” the study said.

At least 524 AU students currently have for-credit internships, according to Director of Experiential Education at the AU Career Center Francine Blume.

The Career Center conducted a mid-semester survey of students doing internships for academic credit and found that 81 percent of respondents were not being paid for internships this semester. Most years, around 70 to 65 percent of AU students with for-credit internships are not paid, according to Blume.

In the 2009 spring semester, the number of AU students working at internships without pay was the highest it had been since Blume has been at the Career Center, she said. Ninety-three percent of AU students with for-credit internships were unpaid that semester.

The increase was likely a result of the economic recession, according to Blume. But that number recovered in the summer 2009 when 69 percent of AU for-credit internships were unpaid.

Many students across the country are taking unpaid internships, and a lot of students come to AU for the opportunity to intern in D.C. But finding paid internships can be generally difficult, Blume said.

“We’re one of the few schools that gives academic credit for internships, and we really encourage that,” Blume said. “When you’re doing it for credit, there are a lot more safeguards.”

Two of the Department of Labor’s six factors for unpaid interns are that “the training ... is similar to what would be given in a vocational school or academic educational instruction” and “the training is for the benefit of the trainees.”

A senior in the School of Public Affairs, who did not wish to be named, said that his unpaid position in New Jersey was more like a paralegal position.

“I didn’t do anything important or crucial, but I certainly helped put together all the briefings and kept county officials updated,” the senior said in an e-mail.

The work was not difficult, he said.

“But if I messed up, it might’ve been a big deal,” he said in the e-mail.

There are warning signs that a potential intern can look for to avoid getting hired into a bad internship, Blume said.

“Students should be looking for a complete job description. Something like ‘working projects at the radio station’ is not a good job description,” Blume said. “Look at the selection process — is there a selective process or do they just take warm bodies? You want to make sure you are going to get something out of the experience.”

No matter what kind of internship they have, AU students can come into the Career Center and ask questions, according to Blume. Career Center personnel can also advocate for students at their workplaces, including when serious issues arise, according to Blume.

“No student should feel like they should stay on a site if they are being abused,” Blume said.

You can reach these writers at mfowler@theeagleonline.com.

An earlier version of this story identified Francine Blume as the Director of Experimental Education at the AU Career Center. Blume is actually Director of Experiential Education. The Eagle regrets this error.