Watch out unpaid interns, things may be changing.
Federal District Court Judge William H. Pauley III ruled Tuesday that Fox Searchlight Pictures violated federal and New York state minimum wage laws after two former unpaid interns sued the company, alleging they did the jobs of regular, paid employees.
In his ruling, Pauley said the production interns, Eric Glatt and Alexander Footman, should have been paid as full-time employees, given the fact that they worked in a similar capacity, the New York Times reported.
The case — deemed the “Black Swan” case because the plaintiffs worked on the movie — could have a substantial impact on the future of unpaid internships. According to research firm Intern Bridge, undergraduate students flock to more than 1 million internships each year, and half of those are unpaid.
And because many companies spanning a range of industries rely heavily on unpaid interns, the ruling could spawn a major restructuring of internship programs.
Pauley noted Fox Searchlight’s internship did not foster an educational environment, with the studio receiving the majority of benefits from their interns’ work. Glatt and Footman said they did basic tasks such as taking lunch orders, answering phones, arranging employees’ travel, taking out the trash and assembling furniture — most of which are all-too familiar to unpaid interns.
“I hope that this sends a very loud and clear message to employers and to students doing these internships, and to the colleges that are cooperating in creating this large pool of free labor — for most for-profit employers, this is illegal. It shouldn’t be up to the least powerful person in the arrangement to have to bring a lawsuit to stop this,” Glatt told the New York Times.
Though Pauley did not rule unpaid internships were illegal, he encouraged employers seeking free labor to follow the Department of Labor’s rules. According to the agency, employers must apply six criteria when determining to employ an unpaid intern, including whether the experience for the benefit of the intern and if they do not displace regular employees.
And Glatt and Footman aren’t the only ones to seek retribution. After filing their case in September 2011, a host of former unpaid interns have come out of the woodwork looking for lost wages. In February 2012, a case against Harper’s Bazaar magazine led to a collective action suit with all unpaid interns. And last December, Charlie Rose and his production company announced they would pay back wages to more than 189 interns — about $1,100 each.
The ruling in the “Black Swan” case could have major implications on unpaid internships moving forward, begging the question will employers simply pay, or will internships become obsolete?
