Illegal internships on the rise, no students will comment

Every year, thousands of college students go on a search for possible places of employment.  They aren’t looking for jobs but instead, they are looking for internships. 
Because of the recent economic decline, the job market, which includes internships, is extremely competitive.  College students who are looking for internships are almost instantly told that they shouldn’t expect to be paid for the work that they do. 

But the federal Department of Labor has recently been looking into the situation.  They believe that many companies are taking advantage of college interns and using them as full time employees but not paying them as such.

Though unpaid internships themselves are not unlawful, there are six federal criteria that the internship must meet in order to be unpaid and many companies are not meeting many of these criteria, if any. 

Some of these criteria include that the internship should be similar to the training given in a vocational school or academic institution, that the intern does not displace regular paid workers and that the employer “derives no immediate advantage” from the intern’s activities, meaning that the internship must be advantageous for the intern instead of the employer.

“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,” said Nancy J. Leppink, the acting director of the Department of Labor’s wage and hour division. 

In 2008, the National Association of Colleges and Employers found that 50 percent of graduating students had held internships, which is up from 17 percent in 1992.  So as more and more students decide that they want to gain professional experience, some companies seem to be taking advantage of them and using them as free labor.

Though the Department of Labor is trying to fight for the students’ rights, many interns are unwilling to come forward and disclose information about their internships because they do not want it to hurt their chances for getting a job after they graduate.  Multiple Mount Union students were asked to comment on this story, but no one would go on the record because of the effect it could have on their future employment opportunities.

Also, if they are fond of their employers they might not want to disclose damaging information and risk getting them into legal trouble.  This makes it very difficult for federal to crack down on the labor laws because they often don’t have adequate proof to prosecute the companies.

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