Not So Equal: Unpaid and Unprotected Interns

Internships—the vast majority unpaid—have become a staple of the college experience. In 1992, only 9 percent of graduating students had participated in internships; by 2006 that figure increased to 83 percent. Internships are often good for both the student and the employer. Yet the current system is fraught with problems. In a previous entry, I discussed how unpaid internships put lower-income students at a substantial disadvantage compared to their better-off peers who can afford a summer of lost wages and the high living expenses of city life. Students who can’t afford an unpaid internship don’t get the valuable leg-up they need in searching for employment after graduation.
 
But there is another, more serious problem with our system of internships. Unpaid interns (and many paid interns as well) are not protected by the civil rights laws that prevent against workplace discrimination and harassment. The primary test the legal system uses for determining whether or not a worker is protected under anti-discrimination laws is if the worker is compensated by his or her employer. No pay, no protection.
 
This test has held up repeatedly in different state and federal courts over time, even after interns have demonstrated extreme cases of sexual harassment by their supervisors and coworkers. Take, for example, the case of Bridget O’Connor, an undergraduate student required to do an internship as a graduation requirement. She was subjected to repeated sexual and verbal harassment by her supervisor, and yet her case was summarily dismissed because she was unpaid.
 
Her case highlights the especially vulnerable position unpaid interns have in the workplace. They’re often on the lowest rung of the office totem pole. They work not for pay, but to learn skills and earn the respect (and recommendation) of their supervisors for later employment. These young adults need anti-harassment and discrimination just as much, if not more, than regular workers. But they are left in a legal void. So what can be done?
 
Congress and the Department of Labor need to make clear regulations for student workers. First, they need to extend anti-discrimination and harassment legal protections to all workers, regardless of whether they are paid or not. Secondly, the federal government needs to simplify the complicated rules that are used to determine whether or not an intern is actually performing work that is useful to the company (and thus should be paid as a full-time employee) or whether the intern is in an educational program (and thus should not be paid as a regular worker). Finally, the Labor Department needs to take seriously the monitoring and enforcement of internship labor regulation violations. By working with individual campuses (especially career service offices), the government needs to help students understand their rights when they choose to engage in internships and other unpaid work.
 
Simply put, no student intern should be stripped of the right to equal protection under the law from discrimination and harassment.
 
If you found this story interesting on protecting the rights of student interns, check out this piece on student loans.
 
(Photo by sree; SAJA Convention job fair)