The Department of Labor’s Internship Investigations
In 2010, the Labor Department issued a new fact sheet clarifying when an intern needs to be paid under federal labor law. We collected the case files for the internship investigations the Labor Department concluded in the three years after issuing new guidelines. For more, read How the Labor Department Has Let Companies Off the Hook for Unpaid Internships.
The department says unpaid internships at for-profit companies must meet six criteria to be considered legal. Click on the six criteria below to see which internships were found in violation of the department’s guidelines.
1
Interns did not receive training similar to an educational environment
2
Internship was not for the benefit of the intern
3
Interns displaced other workers
4
Employer derived immediate advantage
5
Interns believed they were entitled to a job
6
Interns believed they were entitled to compensation