Let's End Unpaid Internships. This is How We Do It.

The COVID-19 pandemic has shined a light on the deep inequities in our society, including one with tentacles in various facets of society, including the student debt crisis, the growing racial wealth gap, an unequal job market, and ensuring industries stay nepotistic and homogenous.

Yes, I'm talking about unpaid internships.?

For too long, unpaid internships were accepted as a right of passage for college students. But the tide started to change when interns started to fight back and demand to be compensated for their work. In 2013, interns fought back and sued employers for not being paid. And from time to time, we hear horror stories on social media. And in 2019 Congress began paying their interns, an important step forward for an institution fueled by free labor. But since then, we haven’t heard too much from interns in different sectors of the economy fighting back. It seems logical to assume that unpaid internships are a thing of the past, right? But they still exist. And they’re still a problem.

Here’s why. Under the Trump Administration, the Department of Labor (DOL) amended an existing six-point test to determine whether an intern should be paid. In the original test, if an intern filled all six points (e.g., the intern’s job should complement a paid employer, not displace them), the intern would be paid. Under the Trump Administration, the test was reenvisioned to seven points, thus making it harder for interns to fulfill all criteria. When factoring in the fact the? Department has also never clearly defined what constitutes an internship (e.g., descriptions; employment boundaries), this has led ample room for interns to be exploited.?

Today, Pay Our Interns is calling on the DOL to crack down on employees who offer unpaid internships. Working with our partners including Joint Center, Next100, Young Invincibles in a multi-member coalition, we are continuing the fight for government agencies to pay their interns. But beyond that, we also need to assess the scope of the internship economy.?

Research shows the internship economy has grown exponentially over the past two decades. Internships have gone from being optional for career building and growth to a must-have in key sectors such as journalism, fashion, sports, PR, and the nonprofit sector. Some students now have no choice but to intern or risk being unemployable post-graduation, because they have no prior work experience in that specified industry. The impact and consequences of this system is noticeable; just look at the leadership and structures of the nonprofit sector, fortune 500 companies, government agencies, and the media world. It’s clear who is getting access, and rising by default.?

But there is a solution. And it all begins with these actionable steps, which we’re asking you to support today, and sign our petition to the DOL.?

By signing the petition, you are joining us in calling for:?

1. Reverse Trump-era rules that made it easier for for-profit employers to employ unpaid interns;
2. Collect data on internships, which are largely unaccounted for and unregulated;
3. Pay interns at the Department of Labor at least $15 an hour; and?
4. Establish an Internship Task Force, similar to the Advisory Committee on Apprenticeship, that can study and prevent exploitative internship practices.

As the co-founder of Pay Our Interns, my team and I have spent the past four years working to end unpaid internships. We have made great strides, from working with Congress to appropriate nearly $50 million to pay interns, to working with the White House and the State Department to do the same.?

Our requests of the Department of Labor is the next step in ensuring equity and equality in our internship workforce, but also helps us begin to create the data needed to push this work even further.? Please join us in supporting our future generations.?