Internships and the Law

The US Department of Labor has developed six criteria to help employers determine who qualifies as a learner/trainee/intern, and, therefore, who may be unpaid.

1.The training, even though it includes actual operation of the facilities of the employer, is similar to that which would be given in a vocational school.
2.The training is for the benefit of the student.
3.The student does not displace a regular employee, but works under the close supervision of a regular employee or supervisor.
4.The employer provides the training and derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the student; and on occasion, the operations may actually be impeded by the training. (If the student is receiving credit for the internship, it is considered primarily for the student’s and not the employer’s benefit.)
5.The student is not necessarily entitled to a job at the conclusion of the training period. (There is no prohibition on eventually employing the same student, however.)
6.The employer and the student understand that the student is not entitled to wages for the time spent training (meal and travel stipends are not considered wages.)

An employer should be able to answer ‘yes’ to at least half of the questions listed below to qualify for an unpaid internship.

**Is the work that you are offering an integral part of a student’s course of study? (In other words, is the student receiving academic credit for it?)
**Will the student receive credit for the work, or is the internship required for graduation?
**Does the student have to prepare a report of his/her experience and submit it to a faculty supervisor?
**Has the employer received a letter or some other form of written documentation from the school stating that the intern is approved/sponsored by the school as educationally relevant.
**Are learning objectives clearly identified?
**Will the student perform work that other employees also perform, with the student doing the work for the purpose of learning and not necessarily performing a task for the employer?
**Is the student working and providing benefit to the employer less than 50 percent of the time, and/or is the student in a shadowing/learning mode?
**Will the employer provide an opportunity for the student to learn a skill, process or other business function, or learn to operate a piece of equipment?
**Is the individual supervised by an employer’s staff member?
**Is clear that a job is not guaranteed upon completion of the training or completion of the student’s schooling?