Like baseball or time at the lake, an unpaid internship is a
summer ritual for many young Canadians. Indeed, many
employers turn to unpaid volunteers, practicum students and interns
to bolster their workforce. While the attractiveness of
engaging young and motivated individuals for no cost is
understandable, employers should approach these unpaid positions
with caution. They could expose the employer to
liability. In many cases interns and volunteers could turn
out to be employees.
Unpaid positions usually fall into three categories: volunteers,
practicum students and interns. The British Columbia
Employment Standards Act (the "ESA") does not
define these terms. It does, however, define the term
"employee" broadly as including a person an employer
allows, directly or indirectly, to perform work normally performed
by an employee. It also defines "work" broadly as
labour or services an employee performs for an employer. The
characterization of any individual
