As the growth of unpaid internships continue, the United States government is considering making them illegal. According to the New York Times, numerous cases of interns being the victims of the abusive power of employers have been tried in court all over the country. This abuse varies from sexual harassment, bad treatment of interns or, most commonly, being forced into doing laundry lists for the employers instead of the tasks interns hope to gain experience from. While unpaid internships may seem a good way for students to gain work experience and employers to keep their money, they unfortunately open up too many risky opportunities for employers to take advantage of interns.
The labor law system of the United States consists of labor unions and regulation of proper business practices. These laws that protect employees from being discriminated against, taken advantage of, and given unfair wages do not apply to interns. Under these laws, interns are left as slaves to the employer.
However, there are some laws that mandate whether an internship is unpaid or paid. The main rule that the U.S. Department of Labor requires is that employers cannot immediately benefit from the intern?s work. As expected, employers by pass these rules almost all the time.
One would expect the government to be right on the case, preventing these selfish employers from utilizing the unlawful actions they practice. Unfortunately, officials just do not have the evidence to target these companies. In addition, many interns choose not to complain because of the fear of being blacklisted for future opportunities.
The fact is plain and simple: An unpaid internship offers too many opportunities for employers to take advantage of their interns. Even to implement an updated version of internship laws would not fully ensure proper internship practices. The government nor the employers can be counted on to regulate this method of labor. Also, with the low rate of law reformation and bill passage going on in Congress now, it would take years to enforce internship laws.
The simple decision to fix this problem is to make unpaid internships illegal. Employers will be forced to treat would-be-interns as employees, therefore, granting them the inalienable worker?s rights they deserve. Furthermore, former interns will be learning the skills company practices, rather doing aimless, simplistic tasks.
But, the inevitable topic of money comes up.
Although employers have to give some of their money to interns, there is a mutual benefit between them. Interns are naturally more motivated to work to their highest potential when they are paid. In turn, employers will get the most money out of what they pay-even though the pay is much less than someone who works full-time. Employers will also be able to test the capabilities of the interns in the actual field, rather than reading accomplishments from a resume or hearing statements in an interview. Ultimately, paid internships will open up more job opportunities for interns and more profit opportunities for businesses.