ARTICLE: End of the Non-Paid Internship

[MatthewShiner]

http://moneyland.time.com/2012/05/02/the-beginning-of-the-end-of-the-unpaid-internship-as-we-know-it/?iid=pf-main-lede?xid%3Dgonewsedit&google_editors_picks=true

[RuthNY]

My favorite quote from this article:

As more internships sprouted across the country, Congress passed a number of laws regulating them, including the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1947, which specifically lays out a 6-point test, still in use today, for hiring unpaid interns. Under the Department of Labor’s test, an intern must be paid unless:

1. The internship is similar to training that would be given in an educational environment;
2. The internship is for the benefit of the intern;
3. The intern does not displace regular employees;
4. The employer derives no immediate advantage from the intern;
5. The intern is not entitled to a job at the end of the internship;and
6. The intern understands that he or she is not entitled to wages.

[missliz]

#6 is interesting: it's ok to be an unpaid intern if you know you're going to be an unpaid intern. So, if these people knew going into it that it was unpaid, it's not illegal?

(I don't condone unpaid internships, in fact I don't know how these people afford 6 or 7 in a row!)

[bpaige]

4. The employer derives no immediate advantage from the intern;

Um, don't all theatre companies that have unpaid interns generally benefit immediately? Intern ASMs for example...
It's a sad thing, using interns to save money while pay exorbitant amounts for other things. //sigh
As a student coming out of college and having done an unpaid internship, I will never do it again.