Work Is Work: Why Free Internships Are Immoral
The Labor Department’s guidelines require that internships must resemble an education rather than a job; that interns cannot work in the place of paid employees; that their their work not be of “immediate benefit” to an employer. If you’ve ever had an unpaid internship, you know that these rules are flouted more routinely than speed limits. But rather than hold up these rules as quixotic laws begging to be violated and laughed at, ask yourself three questions:
- Is there no overlap between paid and unpaid work at your company?
- Can you deny that unpaid internships deny to low-income students an experience that many employers consider mandatory?
- Would a minimum wage salary paid to a handful of students compromise your company’s financial position?
I cannot imagine an honest person with passing knowledge of unpaid internships in America answering any of those three questions “yes.”
Work is work, no matter who does it. It ought to be paid.
Read more. [Image: Reuters]