[bluGill]

It is illegal if the work is in anyway valuable to the company. This is probably state by state, but considering I live in Iowa I think it is safe all states have some variation of this.

The example the lawyer used to explain it to me is a railroad can have an unpaid intern who moves cars from place to place. However those places all need to be places where the car isn't needed. If the intern moves a car from a siding to an unloading dock and somebody then unloads the car that was useful work and the intern needs to be paid because it was useful work.

BTW, if you get an offer for an unpaid internship and do useful work for the company you should contact a lawyer after your employment and sue for back pay AFTER you get your letter of recommendation: it is any easy lawsuit to win (be sure to ask for lawyer fees) if you have any evidence.

[dragonwriter]

> It is illegal if the work is in anyway valuable to the company.

Its also illegal if the unpaid training position is directly tied to employment, which the “this is unpaid for three months” listing seems to directly indicate.

I suspect, if someone were actually hired on these terms and subsequently filed a wage and hour complaint, they’d be due back pay governed by minimum wage laws, damages for any violation of mandatory break and other working hours regulations applicable to non-exempt employees (since, regardless of the kind of work, a $0 salary is below the minimum for exemption), plus penalties and interest for payment being after the time required in law. And, on top of all that, the employer would pay additional fines to the government for the violations.

[lovich]

Unfortunately the US government doesn't go after companies who do this in any significant matter and that makes the law worth as much as the ink it's written with. You can try suing but then you get known as the entry level employee whose litigious against their employers. The massive power imbalance between employee and employer prevents you from really exercising that protection.

The only industry I know of where interns get a decent deal is in software as companies are competing to try and get future employees, and those internships are only in the hot markets like SF

[s73ver_]

"You can try suing but then you get known as the entry level employee whose litigious against their employers"

Any company worth their salt should not care about this. Any company that would be upset that someone sued because their employer was treating them poorly is by definition a shitty company.

[lovich]

I am of the opinion that the Venn diagram of shitty companies and all companies is a perfect circle so I might be biased, but there is literally no reason a company wouldn't take that into consideration. They may not be aware of it, but if they find out they will view it poorly. The only employees who that doesn't apply to are executives and guys like levandowksi. For the average employee it's something to consider.

Otherwise it would be no problem to start a software union cause that's just making sure the company doesn't treat you poorly right? Yet I have not met a manager who hasn't stated that they wouldn't look on someone being involved with a union as a red flsg

[dsfyu404ed]

>if you have any evidence.

Like a letter of recommendation describing the work you did.