Courts Weigh Legality of Unpaid Internships

You know, I'm reminded of something Orson Welles said in an interview in the early '80s (not long before he died). It haunted me.

"No civilization in the history of mankind has ever been able to sustain itself without a slave society."

It still makes me cringe, but the more I thought about it, the more I think he was right. Many have tried with the noblest of intentions, but none have succeeded.

Look at our country alone ...

Actual slaves, mostly from Africa.
Labor workers before unions or laws to protect them
Women
Children
Undocumented ("illegal aliens")
Overseas workers (sweatshops)

And to a lesser degree, but they certainly qualify, unpaid interns (in some cases).

And that's just the good ol' U.S. of A. We're only 200+ years old.

There are millions of workers in the world who are killing themselves for "slave wages" and deplorable conditions, told they're lucky to have a job, and they support the civilizations on this planet right now. And we support those countries and businesses who facilitate them.

And the minute one of them is eradicated ... we find another slave society to do the work.

Kinda sobering when you think about it.

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I think internships are actually valuable, as long as they aren't exploited.

What I feel is completely wrong is the intern who is treated like an underling or gofer.

If they're in a professional office (ad agency, law firm, architecture firm, etc.), and all they do is filing, getting coffee, and all the sh*t jobs that no one else wants to do, that's a complete misuse of an internship. Unless they're interning to be a file clerk or a support staff worker. If they are there to learn the trade with hands-on experience, that's what they should be doing.

So, yes, they should be working on "real" projects under the supervision of professionals. Is that "free" labor? No, it's training ... but only to a point. There should be limits as to how many hours and how many projects an intern should be able to work.

"Learning" the job isn't "taking over" the job. There needs to be a professional with them, guiding them, supervising them. They should never be wholly responsible for any project. That's not an internship, that's a co-worker.

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When in conjuunction with an educational program, I see nothing wrong with them. In theory, the school is looking out for the well being of their student and their experience.


I don't doubt there is abuse of it, but not because it is an unpaid experience.


I have a former student that cried when he left his internship a few weeks ago. He worked with Jim Henson's Muppet production company (I have no idea the official name of the company) and thought it was more valuable then the rest of his college education entirely.

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Updated On: 6/14/13 at 08:09 PM

Nice to know he's not the only one that gets a good experience.

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For-profit corporations have no business using unpaid labor. End of story. I've had many an unpaid job in my day, but they were all for small NPOs with pretty much no operating budget to spare. I have pretty much zero sympathy when freaking Conde Nast claims that not paying their workers is okay. (Had to turn down an internship from them once because they would only "pay" in college credit, actually.)

And MANY of nyc's casting offices/producing offices are guilty of this as well. And I speak from experience.

Jordan, I JUST saw a posting for an internship at Telsey that had outrageous hours. It was legitimately a full-time job. Arguably more demanding than many entry-level full time jobs, too. Who can afford to take these without support from a trust fund etc? How is this fair, how is this educational?

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Kad, Telsey's unpaid internships are 8 hours a day (some days more depending on what's happening), 5 days a week (or more depending on what's happening). The experience there is invaluable and the people are amazing. But it's still unpaid labor in a full time job.

You mean the girl who does those weird things?

I had a few internships when I was in high school & college. All were part-time and unpaid, but most were invaluable in exposing me to professional theatre. Sure, there were errands and data entry, but I learned so much. I did have an internship at a regional theatre, though, where my boss just didn't want to hire someone. My internships overall helped my career just as much as my bachelors degree.

Updated On: 6/15/13 at 04:33 PM

100% agreed, Jordan. Every job is a learning experience! But it's also a job. Which pays you money for your time and labor.

Again, the only way I find it acceptable to do unpaid internships is if you're doing it for an NPO - if you're basically donating your labor to charity, in other words. Otherwise you're basically using your parents to subsidize a corporation, which is ridiculous on just about every possible level.

i just got a second Masters in Counseling, Marriage and Family Therapy... and nearly every job is an unpaid internship! my internship was unpaid while a grad student but now that i have an actual degree I can't get paid... it's horrible... I know I need the experience but I need money to pay off students loans and other bills... it's annoying...

at least when I was intern in my first Masters program I got a paid internship...