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April 21, 2004
Unpaid internships
With interns, you get what you pay for [from Mefi]:
For-profit businesses can't pay less than minimum wage, but labor laws allow exceptions -- if the job is for the educational benefit of the student, and -- the kicker, according to Birmingham, Ala.-based labor lawyer John Richard Carrigan -- if the employer derives no immediate benefit from the intern's work.I sent letters to several California politicians about this a few years ago after a particularly boring summer as an "intern" at a PR firm. It was paid, but only a token amount and far below minimum wage. I knew I was worth more than that and felt used and abused.
But the politicians didn't get it. Feinstein's flaks sent me a form letter about (unpaid) internship opportunities in her office. As did the rest of them.
Posted by sam at 08:08 PM | Comments (0)