The Monroe Street Journal

Issue date: 4/12/10 Section: News

It seems every time the school year draws to an end, the questions emerge: "What are you doing this summer?" "Who are you working for?" And every so often a boisterous over achiever will dare to ask: "So how much are you making?" For the fortunate few who land internships with big name banks and firms, the answer to this question just seems to roll easily off the tongue. However the number of undergraduate students who are forced to answer this question with a grim undertone is increasing as the summers go by.

The escalating number of unpaid internships throughout the last few years has caught the attention of government investigators who are now searching to assess whether the unpaid internship has become a replacement for cheap labor. With the economy on the rocks and jobs being lost by the minute, students are a prime target for unpaid internships. Most students have come to acknowledge the unpaid internship as a stepping stone to their desired fields. Yet in what they think is paying their dues, they are forced to either carry out menial everyday tasks or load their summer days with the equivalent amount of work as a full time employee.

As of right now, each of six federal criteria must be met for an internship to be unpaid. All of these criteria are based on a notion that the intern must be benefitting from the internship more than the host company. This includes the idea that the intern should receive education or vocational training as they would in an academic institution and that the employer derives no immediate advantage from the interns work with the company. It seems to me though, that there is little education experience to be gained through a summer stuffing envelopes.

Considering many students are simply afraid to file complaints against their employers for fear of career endangerment, it's about time the government took a more active role in defending their rights. However in the United States' Federal Labor Department's pursuit to crack down on unfair employment, it is essential for them to educate both students and employers of the requirements for an unpaid internship. Nancy J. Leppink, the acting director of the department's Wage and Hour Division stated that a new series of investigations would be launched and that "If you're a for-profit employer or you want to pursue an internship with a for-profit employer, there aren't going to be many circumstances where you can have an internship and not be paid and still be in compliance with the law."

The worst cases of unpaid internships might very well be when students who can't afford to work for free during their summers are forced to do so or face failing short in their career aspirations. Yet with the college world becoming more and more competitive by the second, this exploitation is unfortunately welcomed with eager college kids doing anything they can to secure their fate in the business world.

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