A special guest blog post by Dallas wedding photographer and DWF Pro Stacy Reeves
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The problem of unpaid internships first came to my attention when I read an article by Dallas Mavericks owner and entrepreneur Mark Cuban discussing his own run-in with the issue (Link). Cuban had hoped to employ some interns to help start a Mavericks-focused media pool, but his HR department quickly shut the idea down. According to the Mavs’ HR team (and the US Fair Labor Standards Act and the UK’s National Minimum Wage Act), any internship in which the intern does tasks that contribute to the company MUST be paid at least minimum wage.
Most people have a tough time believing that such a well-known, widespread, and socially accepted practice could be illegal, but a simple Google search will turn up a wealth of information that confirms the truth. Unless your intern is there for training purposes only. I.E….
- watching you work
- doing tasks that would not otherwise be done by a regular employee
- creating products that are not intended for paying customers, etc..
…you’ve got to fork over the $7.25 per hour for their time. That also means that you’re required to abide by all labor laws, including non-discrimination (which was a problem for a married male colleague of mine who recently sought out a male intern, since he was not comfortable being alone at his office with a young female) and all the ensuing unemployment and payroll taxes.
Here are some guidelines on what constitutes a paid or unpaid internship, from Business.gov :
“The basic principle behind a legal unpaid internship is simple – unpaid interns cannot do any work that contributes to a company’s operations. This includes any tasks that help you run your business, like documenting inventory, filing papers, answering emails, etc.
So, legally, what can an unpaid intern do? Unpaid interns can shadow other employees and perform duties that don’t have a business need. For example, a bakery may allow an apprentice to decorate a tray of cookies that will not be sold to customers. Because the task was only a training exercise for the apprentice and the bakery did not receive any benefit from that work, the bakery would not have to pay that student worker for their time.
10 Comments at "Breaking the Law, Breaking the Law"
Asking someone to work for free is also short-sighted. I actually did this (as the free worker) for a while and I eventually felt taken advantage of.
Customer service professionals will tell you that the first step in creating happy customers is creating happy employees. Well-paid and appreciated employees are invaluable stewards of your business. Employees will treat your customers the way you treat them. If an employee is resentful, he won’t put forth a happy face for customers.
So, if you take advantage of your employees, they will project their dissatisfaction when dealing with customers, and it will bite YOU in the end.
This post doesn’t mention working in exchange for credit. I was under the impression that the student intern had to either be enrolled in a university, and earning credit or being paid. Just curious about this side of the issue, as it’s an extremely common practice.
Small businesses frequently think that they are doing someone a favor by allowing someone to intern. Particularly in the down economy where small businesses need help and they think they can’t afford to pay for that help. A common error in the payroll department that is close to using unpaid “interns” is misclassifying employees as independent contractors. The Internal Revenue Service has a detailed document on what constitutes an Independent Contactor. One major factor is who controls the work product. So if you hire a Photo Assistant and they work along side you carrying your camera bag, changing lenses, holding lights, you are directing them. There is no contract for a finished product. The penalties and interest – not to mention the cost of a Payroll Compliance Audit…aren’t worth the 12-15%. Oh – and Worker’s Compensation Insurance is another must. Not having it if some one is injured can really cost you major money and even in California – Criminal Charges!
There ARE legal exceptions to this rule. Here in GA there is a program called “Georgia Works” where – if someone is unemployeed and seeking on-the-job training they can intern for FREE for so many weeks (6-8 weeks if I remember correctly). You have to go through the paperwork and get the “okay” for the program, but they are clear that it MUST be unpaid.
Each small business should check with their state on the rules/laws at the State level as well as the national ones.
I don’t see how someone can feel taken advantage of when they knowingly go into the agreement of their own free will and get FREE training which otherwise they would not receive or have to pay thousands of dollars for.
It’s very unrealistic to think that one can just walk in and expect to be trained AND to be paid when they bring nothing to the table.
This is just another slap in the face to the small business owner and bad news for aspiring employees who want to get a foot in the door.
The alternative ? Go to school, pay for your own training, then come door knocking.
A job is an implied contract between two people; one that has work that needs to be done and another who would like to do it. The compensation is whatever is agreed upon whether it in money or work experience and job training. The government should stay out of it completely. No one is forcing an intern to take the position. He/she does it willingly. Geo is right. All this could ever do is take away the bottom rung for someone trying to break into a particular market.
Geo wrote: “I don’t see how someone can feel taken advantage of when they knowingly go into the agreement of their own free will …”
This is why I’m opposed (in principle) to “minimum wage” laws — how does the gov’t know what is a fair price for a particular job? In some areas, it *could* be argued that (without the laws) businesses could take advantage of workers, that the workers can’t get employment elsewhere for physical, geographic, etc. reasons, but I think this is the exception.
There was a time when apprentices would *PAY* to work under a master craftsman, just to learn the skills that would one day make *them* a master.
The end result of this is not that interns will get paid, it is that fewer photographers will take on an intern at all (given all the red tape).
I go with Geo, Joe and Paul, as long as the terms of the agreement are clearly stated ahead of time there is no taking-advantage-of-me crap.
Imagine for a moment that you work for Google and make minimum wage but Google is making millions and now you feel taken-advantage-of and try to sue because Google is making millions and you signed a contract where you were getting paid minimum wage?
An agreement is an agreement and if you don’t like the agreenment, why take it?
Liana is incorrect, the Georgia Works program essentially uses unemployment to pay people for participating in unpaid internships that are legal under federal laws – meaning programs that are TRAINING only, not actual legitimate employment. People participating in the Georgia Works program are not supposed to be doing actual work for the employer, just training.
Minimum wage laws are there to protect people from being taken advantage of by greedy small business owners who want to cut every possible corner to save money. For all the crap that “big business” gets, in my experience it’s the small business owners who are the worst about exploiting their employees (i.e.: not paying FICA, not contributing to unemployment insurance, not providing for worker’s comp, etc).
Sam I will have to agree with you on that! Thank you for sharing! Sending some Dallas Wedding Photographer love your way! -Jessica
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