More employers  these days are trying out their candidates before hiring them by

Justine Loehlein

using them as interns. Just as many colleges are requiring this type of training before a students can graduate. According to the National Association of Colleges & Employers, in 1992 only 9% of college graduates were required to complete internships. By 2008, the number of internships rose by 83%. Most of whom were not paid. Something happened between 2008 and 2011 that changed that unpaid internship trend. More than half of all college interns were being paid. Even more, more than half of those who served as interns later are hired by the businesses for which they intern. While hiring should not be guaranteed as part of an internship, most of those new employees are typically paid more than an employee who did not serve as an intern.

   The major problem with involves using interns is employers not knowing the rules when it comes to classifying an intern properly. The risks of violating FLSA standards are greatly increased to an employer if they do not meet DOL's six criteria for unpaid internship;

 

1.  The internship, even though it includes actual operation of the facilities of the employer, is similar to training which would be given in an educational environment.

2.  The internship experience is for the benefit of the intern.

3.  The intern does not displace regular employees, but works under close supervision of existing staff.

4.  The employer that provides the training derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the intern; and on occasion its operations may actually be impeded.

5.  The intern is not necessarily entitled to a job at the conclusion of the internship.

6.  The employer and the intern understand that the intern is not entitled to wages for the time spent in the internship.

 

   Recent court cases have rendered a few basic principles with which the DOL criteria above are consistent. In order for the court to support that the intern or trainee is not an employee, key factors look at whether:

1.  The trainee works for his or her own benefit to learn a profession or vocation with adequate supervision and instruction from the company.

2.  The company does not derive the primary benefit of the work performed by the intern.

3.  The trainee does not displace paid employee.

 

   Employers must follow the above guidelines when considering using an intern's services unpaid. They could be violating the FLSA's requirement to pay required wages if the intern should really be classified as an employee.