As a flood of lawsuits against Arizona companies finally dries up, another downpour begins. Phoenix resident Peter Strojnik, the same attorney who filed more than 1,100 lawsuits that caught the attention of Arizona`s attorney general, has filed about 60 new Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) lawsuits against motels and homes in Arizona federal court in the past three months. In addition to volunteer work, the legal profession, like businesses in other industries, would be well advised to rethink its approach to unpaid internships and pay articling students minimum wage or ensure that clerical, filing and administrative work is not a mainstay of an articling student`s day. Yes, unpaid internships are legal if they primarily benefit the intern. The Fair Labour Standards Act (FLSA) provides for a test, the “principal beneficiary test,” to determine whether an internship can be legally unpaid. The “principal beneficiary test” has seven criteria, which are according to the Ministry of Labor: The benefit of paid internships was highlighted in the for-profit sector, where 64% of paid interns got a job, compared to 38% of their unpaid colleagues. The survey also found that the median starting salary for a recent graduate with a paid internship is $51,930, compared to $35,721 for those with an unpaid internship. Prior to 2013, there do not appear to be any court decisions on the legality of unpaid internships under the FLSA. However, outside the domestic context, the courts have considered cases where a person is an “employee” for the purposes of the RSA.

The WHD requires that all six wall factors be met; Otherwise, as WHD explained in a report, an intern is an employee, even if the internship is “academically oriented for the benefit of students.” 32 The WHD also points out that an internship involving `little or no work … is rather perceived as a true educational experience. “Nor can 33 internships serve as a probationary period for people seeking paid employment after the internship. Legal employers should be particularly sensitive to the consequences of unpaid internships. Law students are often used as unpaid articling students by law firms and businesses. The spectre of litigation is likely to curb this practice. Yet for some students, unpaid internships are the only way to gain hands-on experience. Companies that use unpaid interns must comply with federal and state labor regulations. Often, this is not the case.

Those who do not comply with these laws do so at their own risk, as an unpaid employee falsely referred to as an “articling student” may recover reimbursements, lump sum damages, and attorneys` fees. Federal and state sanctions are also threatened. Acknowledging this dilemma, the former president of the American Bar Association wrote to the U.S. Department of Labor about law students working as unpaid articling students in pro bono cases, noting that the FLSA “neither permits nor prohibits pro bono internships in private law firms. (Letter from Laurel G. Bellows, President of the American Bar Association, to the Honourable Mr. Patricia Smith, Labor Counsel, U.S. Department of Labor (28.

May 2013), available at www.scribd.com/doc/144691085/ABA-Letter-to-Dept-of-Labor-Legality-of-Unpaid-Interns.) Yes. In general, not-for-profit organizations have more flexibility to hire unpaid interns who are considered volunteers who give their time to the organization to advance their mission. This means that the courts will consider the “principal beneficiary test” less strictly than if the internship had taken place in a for-profit business. It also means that there is less protection for unpaid interns working for non-profit organizations. Given that the Walling interns did not move employees, that the interns were closely monitored, and that the employees did most of the work themselves, the Tribunal found that the interns were not employees. Therefore, it was appropriate that they not be paid. The plaintiffs in the Wang case also applied for group certification, a common vehicle for prosecutions under the FLSA. Hearst argued that since the benefit of the internship depended on the totality of the circumstances for each trainee, individualized questions precluded certification. The district court agreed and refused the class certification. The issue of unpaid internships is currently evolving, and it remains to be seen how the courts will ultimately decide. In any case, classifying workers as trainees to avoid paying wages violates the FLSA. Companies that use unpaid interns should therefore assess whether their interns are “employees” according to the six-factor test and adjust their compensation structure accordingly.

■ The Wages and Hours of Work Department of the Ministry of Labour caters to trainees. An important function of the WHD is to issue non-binding bulletins and statements on the interpretation of the LSF.28 Although the WHD has issued statements applying the FLSA to internships, these letters do not have the force of law and the courts only need to review them if they are deemed “persuasive”. 29 In addition to these qualifications, the WHD`s observations are instructive and should be consulted when designing an internship programme. The class action lawsuits against Rose, Hearst and Fox Searchlight Pictures could be the beginning of a deluge. In June and July 2013, unpaid interns filed lawsuits against NBCUniversal, Warner Music Group and Condé Nast. All internships are subject to labor law, even if the position is unpaid. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) states that everyone who works for a company must be compensated for their time and services. However, there are grants for an intern to work without pay if your company meets certain criteria. The Ministry of Labour stipulates that internships must comply with the following rules: Unpaid internship programs do not appear to meet these criteria on the face of it. There would probably be workers who would accept a minimum wage for the work in question. It is not unreasonable, for example, to believe that a law student would be willing to gain experience in a law firm at minimum wage, given the weight of law student debt.