Unpaid Internships Cont.
Aaron Monteabaro on Jun 29th 2010
I like this part:
“If you’re a for-profit employer or you want to pursue an internship with a for-profit employer, there aren’t going to be many circumstances where you can have an internship and not be paid and still be in compliance with the law”
It’s just like I said in the first post where if someone is making money off of your labor, there’s no possible circumstance where it’s ok for you not to get compensated. And apparently it is illegal too.
It’s nice to know there are specific criteria about how an unpaid internship can be legal. Below is one-
“that the employer “derives no immediate advantage” from the intern’s activities”
It backs up the previous point. Also, the way it’s described is like a vocational school (a.k.a. an apprenticeship) which is the only way it seems appropriate, and even then there should (and with trade jobs, usually is) some form of compensations.
I also agree with this point fully:
“While many colleges are accepting more moderate- and low-income students to increase economic mobility, many students and administrators complain that the growth in unpaid internships undercuts that effort by favoring well-to-do and well-connected students, speeding their climb up the career ladder.”
It’s hard for low (myself) and middle income students as it is, but to ask that we give more time to a project without making any money is absurd, and sometimes impossible. For all the students who have yet to pay their own bills, that may be a non-issue, but if ‘they’ really want us to get a college education they need to find a way to make it more realistic for everyone.
There still is and always will be a certain amount of ‘sucking it up’ to get where you want to be. Some simply won’t be able to make it, and they will never see the results. That’s just how our society works sometimes. Right now we’re set in the direction of this becoming (or has it already become) the norm, and most colleges require it. That doesn’t make it any easier; for anyone on that path, good luck.
Filed in Uncategorized | One response so far
One Response to “Unpaid Internships Cont.”
I like the way you broke it down in viewing your beliefs on the issue of not paying interns. I was suprised it was illegal as well because whenever I heard about an internship I assumed that it was unpaid and that the intern was running around grabbing their supervisors coffee or lunch or whatever they needed at that moment. I am glad to hear that they are cracking down on employers who are taking advantage ans seeking out companies who are not paying and not giving the educational experince the interns deserve and signed up for.