Re: Paid vs. unpaid internships

[Bonni Graham <bonnig -at- IX -dot- NETCOM -dot- COM>]

John Gear wrote:

>I wonder also about the legal justification for unpaid internships.
>Employers who would otherwise be required to pay at least minimum wage get
>to call it "internship" and pay nothing if there's a school in the picture
>somewhere . . . why is that?

Some of it depends on the school hosting the program and the nature of the
students therein.

For example, a local community college has an internship program that they run
 in
conjunction with a job retraining program for disabled students, many of whom
became disabled due to on-the-job injuries.  Since these students are in essence
being paid to be in this program, often by the state, it is *illegal* for them
 to
be paid by the company for whom they are interning.  This is true for many of
 the
same reasons it is illegal for someone to collect unemployment or disability
insurance and wages simultaneously.

I'm interviewing three of these students right now.  If I were to pay them
 (which
I already know I cannot -- my husband went through the same program three years
ago), they would promptly lose their current benefits, which are substantial, as
well as become ineligble for further aid.

For most colleges and universities, this is not true.  I'm not going to get into
whether this gives the institutions the right to demand unpaid internships or
whether companies who offer same are unethical.  I just wanted to point out a
time when unpaid internships are completely legal and ethical.


--
Bonni Graham
Manual Labour
bonnig -at- ix -dot- netcom -dot- com