Brits Crack Down on Unpaid Internships

[marmar]

(The Nation) Alarmed about “the number of companies recruiting young people to work for nothing,” British tax officials are forcing nine companies to pay more than $300,000 in back wages to unpaid interns. The action by Her Majesty’s Revenue, reported on the front page of the Times of London on Monday, cited the firms for “breaching minimum wage legislation.” Under British law, a position that has “set hours and set duties” is a job subject to the laws establishing minimum wages.

“Unpaid internships can provide valuable opportunities” to young people seeking to get a foot on the career ladder, Michelle Wyer, assistant director of the government’s national minimum wage team, told The Times. “However, we are clear that employing unpaid interns instead of workers to avoid the national minimum wage is wrong.”

The government has established a “pay and work rights helpline” where interns can register complaints anonymously. Each of today’s actions resulted from a complaint filed by an intern.

The firms fined for minimum wage violations included Arcadia, Britain’s largest privately held retailer. Arcadia owns Topshop and other well-known British stores. ....................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thenation.com/blog/174626/brits-crack-down-unpaid-internships#ixzz2VC2wPc4Q

[dembotoz]

1. 2 words--student teacher

we do the same damn thing

[badtoworse]

2. Good! I never liked the idea of unpaid internships.

To me, it smacked of exploitation.

[LiberalEsto]

3. Wish we could do that here!

I live in the Washington DC area. There are almost no paid entry-level jobs available in this area because the positions go to unpaid interns. So if you're looking for a job and you're not a college student or a highly-skilled professional with a fabulous resume, forget it.

This needs to change.

[Laelth]

4. Excellent! We could use a law like that here in the U.S.

Will we get it? (snort) I'm betting we won't get such a law any time soon.

-Laelth

[surrealAmerican]

5. They're right to crack down on this.

... if only we could do the same in this country ...

[Starry Messenger]

6. k&r

[NightWatcher]

7. I had a great unpaid internship

It was with a branch of federal law enforcement and gave me exposure that was so much more valuable than any money would have been. I used the exposure to get a job within another agency and used contacts to work with several of the people I met while interning.

Other students in my class were excited to get paid $8 hour law firm internships where they filed briefs all day and never left the basement office.

[enlightenment]

8. You were lucky.

That isn't the experience of many unpaid interns.

[JI7]

11. i think what you did is what internships were meant to be like

but people who don't want to pay workers have used it for their own purposes.

[BrotherIvan]

9. They could start in the film industry where this is rampant

Unpaid internships are fought over like death matches. 60-80 hour weeks unpaid with a boss berating you at every turn. It's madness. One of my producers when we needed to hire another graphics artist had the bright idea to hire an intern, I said no way and it got so bad I threatened to quit over it. I was already working 16 hour days, I didn't need to train and whip an unqualified, unpaid person so he could put some money in his pocket. We just barely made the deadline by hiring three more qualified people instead of his one intern. So much greed and stupidity it burns.

[TransitJohn]

10. A hearty fucking K and R!

This should be at the top of the greatest page.