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ARTICLE · 15 MARCH 2012

Are Unpaid Internships Worth The Risk?

Fisher Phillips LLP
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For a while now, unpaid internships have been a hot topic under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.

United StatesEmployment and HR
John Thompson
John Thompson
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For awhile now, unpaid internships have been a hot topic under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. We noted some time ago that the U.S. Labor Department was taking a skeptical view of these relationships.

In conjunction with the April 2010 release of Fact Sheet # 71, the U.S. Wage and Hour Division's Deputy Administrator Nancy Leppink announced what appears as a practical matter to be a rebuttable presumption that many such internships violate the FLSA: "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."

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