As we have
previously mentioned, issues relating to unpaid interns
continue to be a hot topic. In the wage law arena, disenchanted
former interns have brought a string of well-publicized class
action lawsuits against their supposed corporate benefactors
seeking minimum wage and overtime pay for time purportedly spent
– not as "interns" – but as unpaid
"employees." These cases – many of them brought in
New York City against high-profile companies in the entertainment,
broadcast, and publishing industries – have forced many
businesses to reconsider, change or even abandon their unpaid internship programs.
Unpaid interns not only function in the workplace without
compensation, but also may do so without the same civil rights
protections as paid workers. That reality was recently confirmed by
a recent federal court decision in New York City where
the court, borrowing from precedents under federal and state
anti-discrimination laws, concluded that the New York City
