Two unpaid interns who worked on the wildly successful movie 'Black Swan', are lead plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit related for the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Simply put - they weren't paid and they believe they should have been.
It seems to me this happens quite a bit.
I cringe whenever I hear business people talk about adding summer interns to do filing and other front-line admin tasks.
Interns are not meant to be free labor. They are meant to provide a meaningful educational experience for the student.
The intern experience is carved out by the Department of Labor for the benefit of the student....not the employer. This means, for example, if an intern is simply running for coffee and lunch orders, doing filing and sweeping floors they are truly an employee and should be paid at least minimum wage.
While all the facts of the 'Black Swan' case have not yet come to light, if the interns truly were only doing 'menial tasks' the studio could be on the losing end of this suit. Truly, the DOL doesn't care if you're fetching coffee for Natalie Portman or Bob in accounting .....such tasks, if the majority of the role, do not meet the expectations of an unpaid intern.
Employers should tread very carefully if deciding the use of unpaid interns - please call your employment attorney. If you don't have one, please send me an email or give me a call and I'll gladly recommend one that I know and trust.
More on the 'Black Swan' case: New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/29/business/interns-file-suit-against-black-swan-producer.html ; ABC News: http://abcnews.go.com/US/black-swan-unpaid-interns-file-lawsuit-fox-searchlight/story?id=14632803
Friday, September 30, 2011
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