I have never understood how companies could get away with hiring unpaid interns. It’s a system that should have gone out the door with child labor and the lack of fire codes. It continues to this day, though. But maybe not for long! Unpaid internships may soon be coming to an end.
The very first case filed in court against the producers of the movie “Black Swan” was just decided by a judge who ruled that the unpaid interns should have at least received minimum wage. No one really thought it would get this far, but the first verdict is in. Many more could potentially follow. There are currently at least fifteen similar suits in the court system right now.
I wish them luck. It’ll be what’s become an all too rare victory for labor.
About damn time. I’ve always thought the “oh, but you get valuable experience!” line was a bunch of bunk. Like it was impossible to both acquire experience and a paycheck at the same time. Even the “we can’t afford to pay you” is mostly garbage as well. If you can’t afford to pay somebody to make coffee runs or type up a legal brief or whatever you say you need, then you should have the people you do pay do it themselves instead of getting college kids to pretend to be your slaves for 3 months.