Running Successful and Legally Compliant Internships
Primer for Nonprofits on Paid Employees, Volunteers, and Interns
II-28 – The New Relaxed Intern Standard and Implications for Employers
Employment Law This Week®: DOL’s Association Health Plan Proposal, NJLAD Includes Nursing Mothers, New Unpaid Intern Test, HHS’s Conscience-Based Protections
Student and Alumni Litigation
Polsinelli Podcast - To Pay or Not to Pay? The Rules for Summer Interns in 2014
Unpaid Internships: Are They Legal?
Failed Unpaid Intern Class Action Hints at Impact of Comcast v. Behrend
With warmer days ahead, many individuals are eager to grow their skills and build their resumes. If you’re planning to bring on summer interns, it’s the perfect time for a quick reality check: are your interns a benefit or...more
With summer approaching, some employers may be looking to bring in interns during their break from school. Internships are great as they provide students with real-world training and experience, which supplements the learning...more
With the start of this new semester, we have received several questions regarding whether student interns need to be paid. As everyone knows, state and federal law requires employers to pay employees for their work. ...more
As we begin this summer season, so too do we begin the season of summer interns. While bringing on summer interns can provide a wide array of benefits to a company, employers must be careful to create a legally compliant...more
The Third Circuit is expected to soon make a decision as to whether student-athletes can be considered university “employees” under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). But its interpretation of the law might reverberate...more
The Puerto Rico Fair Internships Act, Act No. 114-2022 (Act 114), seeks to protect students and recent graduates by guaranteeing paid internships and establishing other legal rights for interns....more
A forensic photographer who enrolled in a county training program was an intern and not an employee, a three-judge panel of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has held in a divided opinion. As a result, her minimum wage...more
Warm weather and summer are approaching, and so too is the end of the school year. As a result, many businesses may now or soon be considering bringing on a summer intern. Students in various industries and stages of...more
The questions and answers below highlight labor and employment topics as they relate to nonprofit organizations. Classifying Your Staff - What is the difference between a paid employee and an unpaid volunteer? Under...more
Warning: The post below includes spoilers for HBO’s Insecure. Due to the lack of televised sporting events in the United States, I have recently been reduced to catching up on shows that have been collecting dust in my...more
It is getting closer to summer and that means students are looking for work experience. Many companies offer unpaid internships. While both the student and employer may see benefits to this arrangement – the employer doesn’t...more
A February 2020 jury verdict against county music star Martina McBride’s production company highlights – albeit indirectly – the perils of unpaid internship programs and the issues they can cause under the Fair Labor...more
The National Labor Relations Board recently held that a group of employees who were advocating on behalf of unpaid interns were not engaged in protected activity because the interns were not “employees” as that term is...more
Netflix is (figuratively) on fire this summer, as it has released tons of new content clearly calculated to keep us indoors during the (literal) heatwave. Season two of Workin’ Moms was released on July 25, 2019 (see my...more
Spring is in the air and summer is around the corner. You can see the signs everywhere. Flowers. Chirping birds. Increasing temperatures. And summer intern resumes. Experienced HR professionals know they will soon receive...more
Once thought to be the next wave of wage-and-hour cases, suits involving interns and students have tended to founder because most training programs are intended to train rather than to provide employment....more
It is estimated about half of the United States’ 1.5 million internships a year are unpaid, a number that may go up due to changes in the Department of Labor’s (DOL) rules governing unpaid internships. ...more
July 26, 2018 is National Intern Day – the perfect day to take a look at the employment law issues that impact internships! The primary issue employers need to be concerned about is whether an unpaid or stipend “intern” is...more
July 26, 2018, is National Intern Day according to WayUp, the job site for college students and recent graduates. The organization’s campaign to acknowledge the role of interns in the workforce is intended to “encourage[]...more
With summer internships in full swing, it’s high time to revisit the Department of Labor’s recently-revised guidance on unpaid internships. Guidelines issued in January abandoned the Department’s prior test – which required...more
With summer upon us, so is the season for interns seeking work experience and opportunities to meet educational requirements. But, for employers, unpaid internships can get sandy if they use their interns like employees....more
Dear Littler: I work in the corporate office of a national retailer. We plan to hire several local student interns to work for us this summer, primarily in accounting and marketing. We enjoy sponsoring this program, and it...more
Unpaid internships are controversial. Proponents argue that they provide valuable opportunities for students to learn about an industry and for companies to scout up-and-coming talent, while critics contend the practice is an...more
As summer months approach and students begin searching for seasonal employment, many employers are faced with the logistics of internship programs, specifically whether an unpaid internship meets the requirements of the Fair...more
In the past we have focused a lot on volunteer labor. The fact that generally an individual cannot “volunteer” to work for a for-profit business. The days of unpaid internships where someone volunteers their time to gain...more