Determining if interns should be paid or unpaid
Wednesday, April 2nd, 2014
Recently a survey conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers in regards to the 2013’s graduation college seniors.
- 63 percent of seniors interned
- 48 percent of those internships were unpaid
Technically any worker who is a “covered employee” must be paid a minimum wage and overtime, according to the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Who is a covered employee? Six pieces of criteria are considered by The Labor Department when looking at whether a private-sector unpaid intern is a covered employee and entitled to a minimum wage and overtime pay.
- The degree to which the internship benefits the intern rather than the employee;
- Whether the intern displaces regular employees;
- Is the intern closely supervised by existing staff;
- Whether the company derives immediate advantage from the intern’s activities
- Is the intern entitled to a job at the end of the internship; and
- Whether the employer and intern have reached an agreement that the intern is not entitled to wages for his/her work.
There is a “hint sheet” that the Department of Labor provides for determining whether interns should be paid or unpaid. You can check it out here www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs71.htm
If you need help deciding whether or not to pay your interns please give us a call at 865-523-8700 we can help you make that decision.