Are you required to pay your intern wages?
Internships are common among career-minded students, and they can provide excellent learning opportunities. However, sometimes the nature of the internship work becomes similar to a part- or full-time job. Interns may not punch a time clock every day, but in certain situations they still have to be paid for their time and attendance.
The Department of Labor's Fact Sheet 71 lays out the requirements for paying interns. If an intern at a private for-profit business qualifies as an employee, he or she must be paid at least minimum wage, plus overtime when more than 40 hours are worked in one week. If an employer is unsure whether its intern is technically an employee, it should look at these six main points:
- Is the internship for the benefit of the intern?
- Are the tasks performed similar to educational training?
- Does the supervisor or business gain anything from the intern's work?
- Is the intern replacing regular employees?
- Was the intern promised a job after the internship ends?
- Do both the employer and intern agree and understand that no wages will be paid?
If you answered 'no' to 3, 4 and 5, and 'yes' to the rest of the questions, your intern is not an employee according to the FLSA, and you are not required to pay him or her any wages.
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