Unpaid Internship

HRinVA

What criteria/considerations are there to have someone volunter as an unpaid intern? This is a college student and will last for a few months. I know that such a thing exists, but what exempts the person from FLSA/minimum wage requirements?

allsteaks

For the first time ever I had an unpaid intern last summer. She was in town for summer break and wanted to spend time learning what HR is all about. We did not give her any duties, no assigned work hours (just agreed to), and had her sign a hold harmless agreement. In other words, we treated her as a visitor. She had no accountibility or assignments from us, but we offered our help on any school assignments she had. So she was here about 10 - 15 hours per week and watched the processes.
BTW, I did not like doing this and would normally paid her at least our lowest pay rate. But her father is a local friend and carries some weight in the community, so it was a good jesture our part to allow her to do this.

njjel

We have volunteers an interns all of time time. We give them a Volunteer/Intern sheet to fill out their name, address, emergeny phone number, etc. and then also give them our progam do's and don'ts. there is no criteria other than they want to volunteer. If it's an intern then they usually have paperwork from the local school that we need to fill out for them.

Dutch2

We have "interns" from the local high school and both colleges. However, we assign them work duties the same as any employee so we have them go through all of the standard applicant and new hire procedures and we set them up as part-time employees. We pay them at least minimum wage while they are working for us.

njjel

Now we do often have PAID interns and then they get our normal new hire paperwork. We do however keep a file with resume on the unpaid interns and volunteers, just for our own records.

joannie

Just read this in a newsletter from "another" company. Hope it helps.

A six-factor DOL test can be used to determind if an intern must be paid. For an intern to be unpaid, all of the following factors must be present:

1. The training is similar to training the student would find in a vocational school;
2. The training is for the benefit of the student/intern;
3. The training doesn't replace the work of regular empoyees;
4. The intern is not entitled to a job at the end of the internship;
5. The intern understands he or she is not entitled to wages for the training;
6. The employer that provides the training not only doesn't benefit from it, but in fact,
the training may hamper normal business functions.

Example: if you are taking time out of your regular operations to sit & train the student on various aspects of your business, then the presence of the intern is actually keepin you from doing your job, and is not benefiting the company. This intern may be unpaid. As opposed to an intern who is answering calls, filling out forms and providing actual work. Since the business would be benefiting from the work produced by the intern, the intern must be paid.

HRinVA

Thank you Joannie - that is very helpful!

FunHRBanker

Dutch-
I was going to email you this question, but your email is disabled. We are looking into an intern program for a network administrator. The school has told us that if we choose to pay the intern (which we will), they are not subject to worker's comp law, minimum wage law, or unemployment. I've tried to find info on the DOL site but obviously am not entering the right search criteria. Guidance would be appreciated.

Thanks!

HRinVA

Does this help? There is a contact for more info...

Full-Time Student Program

This program is for full-time students employed in retail or service stores, agriculture, or colleges and universities. The employer that hires students can obtain a certificate from the Department of Labor which allows the student to be paid not less than 85% of the minimum wage. The certificate also limits the hours that the student may work to 8 hours in a day and no more than 20 hours a week when school is in session and 40 hours when school is out, and requires the employer to follow all child labor laws. Once students graduate or leave school for good, they must be paid at least the federal minimum wage.

There are some limitations on the use of the full-time student program. For information on the limitations or to obtain a certificate, contact the Department of Labor Wage and Hour Southwest Region Office at 525 S. Griffin Square, Suite 800, Dallas, TX, 75202, telephone: (972) 850-2603.

FunHRBanker

Yes, it does help!

Is this for TX only?

HRinVA

I found it on dol.gov - the elaws FLSA Advisor. Not sure why they only list the SW regional office, but I assume if they can't help you they can refer you to your own region's office.

Dutch2

Actually HRinVa knows more about this possiblity than I do. My recommendation was going to be ask the school that gave you this information for documentation of the program.

I disabled the email function a long time back when there were a few inappropriate emails being sent to several forum members and I have never set it back up.