White Paper

For Whose Benefit - The Legal Requirements for Paying Interns

 
“Unpaid internships have proliferated in recent years as a way to provide crucial real-world training to those wishing to be employed in a particular field. In response to the needs of employers, educational institutions have begun formalizing internship programs to ensure graduates are better prepared to enter the workforce. Employers enjoy the long-term benefits of having access to a highly-skilled talent pool and building relationships with educational programs that provide workers for their industries. Unpaid interns enjoy the short-term benefit of learning skills that make them much more marketable once they enter the workforce.

However, due to real or perceived employer abuses of unpaid internship programs, the Department of Labor and the federal courts have attempted to clarify the fuzzy line between “intern” and “employee.” This distinction is important because interns are not entitled to a minimum wage and overtime pay under federal law, while employees are. Knowing this distinction is vitally important to employers because if an unpaid intern is treated like an employee but is not paid like an employee, the employer may be liable to the intern for back pay, overtime pay, liquidated damages, and attorney’s fees under the Fair Labor Standards Act. In order to avoid such liability, employers must be careful in how they structure and execute their unpaid internship programs. The purpose of this document is to provide employers with guidance on how to structure such a program so that it provides benefit to the employer without incurring liability.”

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Our author, Brian E. McMath, is an associate with Sheehan & Sheehan, P.A. His area of practice is in general civil litigation. As a law student, he interned for the Honorable Jimmie V. Reyna of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C., working on a variety of intellectual property, public contracting, and federal employment matters.

Faculty

Brian E. McMath

Sheehan & Sheehan, P.A.

Agenda

Faculty

Brian E. McMath

Sheehan & Sheehan, P.A.

Brian E. McMath is an associate at Sheehan & Sheehan, P.A. His practice areas include civil litigation, legal malpractice defense, construction law and employment law.

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