Unfortunately for many employers hoping to use unpaid labor to advance their business goals, there are strict federal and state rules that workers must be paid the minimum wage and paid for overtime, and must abide by other provisions in the Fair Labor Standards Act, which applies to about 135 million people working for 7.3 million employers. ...I do like how Fortune starts this section off with the word "unfortuntely." Oh yes, how unfortunate that companies can't hire slaves!
"We don't have a system in this country where you can work for free," says Jay A. Zweig, a partner who works in employment law at Bryan Cave in Phoenix. "The exceptions are very, very rare, and generally there are state laws that would fill in to say that, unless you meet specific criteria, you're going to get in trouble with the government." ...
The Labor Department has a strict six-point test to determine whether someone is an intern or trainee and separate guidelines for independent contractors. An internship must primarily benefit the intern, who must work under close supervision and not displace existing staff.
I can't tell you how much respect I've lost for friends who talk about opening their own businesses and figure the solution for any labor problem (this is all white-collar stuff) is "we'll just get a bunch of interns."Be careful with this way of thinking! In my world (engineering and software development), I've had bosses and owners of companies say literally that exact things, but the interns are paid, and generally paid very reasonably ($10/hr in one small firm I worked at in Arizona, and $20-$25/hr at some of the larger firms I did internships at.) Not only that, but the people I worked for always tried to provide a lot of valuable experience, and tended to use their intern pool as their hiring pool as those people graduated from college.
posted by maxwelton at 1:11 AM on March 27 [1 favorite +] [!]
Moe: Okay, you're fighting a guy named Boxcar Bob.
Homer: Brawled his way up from the boxcars, did he?
Moe: Uh, no, not yet, he still lives at the trainyard. But he's a
hungry young fighter. In fact, he's actually fighting for a
sandwich.If you think labor is labor, as many people here seem to do, the notion that volunteering for a non-profit is OK, but volunteering for a for-profit is evil, kinda flies out the window.First of all the "labor is Labor thing" was only said by you. Secondly it's a fucking tautology that means nothing to begin with.
I am a consultant. My asset is me. Everything I do is in the hope that this asset - i.e., my self - will become more valuable in the future.It sounds like you're just a shitty consultant. If you're doing work for free to clients, then actually there is no difference between you and an unpaid intern.
How is this any bloody different that the "unpaid intern"? Seriously? The intern hopes to gain some experience, a "foot in the door" to an industry, or something else she perceives as having value.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) has developed the six factors below to evaluate whether a worker is a trainee or an employee for purposes ofIf all six factors are not met the worker is entitled to minimum wage and overtime. Hopefully the DOL will continue to step up enforcement. If you worked an internship that did not meet all six factors you can sue for back wages and overtime. Scum sucking shitbag employers need to realize that they have to pay their employees or face the consequences.
the FLSA:
1. The training, even though it includes actual operation of the facilities of the employer, is similar to what would be given in a vocational school or academic educational instruction;
2. The training is for the benefit of the trainees;
3. The trainees do not displace regular employees, but work under their close observation;
4. The employer that provides the training derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the trainees, and on occasion the employer’s operations may actually be impeded;
5. The trainees are not necessarily entitled to a job at the conclusion of the training period; and
6. The employer and the trainees understand that the trainees are not entitled to wages for the time spent in training.
In arrangements like WWOOFing or farm internships, terms of employment such as wages, income tax, overtime and vacation pay are fluid, or simply don’t exist. In the U.S., this kind of unpaid farm labour is actually illegal and has recently drawn the attention of the U.S. Department of Labor, which has been cracking down on unpaid interns and volunteers on organic farms.North Bay farms assailed for illegal intern programs:
According to Carl Borden, associate counsel for the California Farm Bureau Federation's Legal Services division, "persons are not allowed to act as employees for a for-profit entity without being afforded all the rights and benefits of being an employee." Unless a farmworker is provided with workers' compensation and state-specified benefits, their productive work for a farm profiting from their labor is illegal.Young adults learn farming skills in WWOOFERS program:
The reason for this? "Our society has these laws set up for the protection of not only those workers themselves but also to protect other employees whose own wages and hours and working conditions could be adversely affected by there being other people to do the work for less money or even for free," Borden says.
Tighter work and pay rules coming down from the state of California's Division of Labor Standards are making it tougher for some farmers to use the WWOOF program. Griggs said he's now forced to pay his WWOOFers the minimum wage of $8 an hour if they work more than four hours a day. He said this may make it economically impractical for him to use them in the future.The "Reflections from the front lines" article is an interesting one that looks at the question "Has small-scale organic agriculture become overly reliant on unpaid, underpaid and unregulated labour in order to remain financially viable? If so, can this be called sustainable?"
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posted by Malice at 8:29 PM on March 26, 2011 [42 favorites]