Workplace Protection for Unpaid Interns

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Recommended: Literature review age discrimination in the workplace

Workplace Protection for Unpaid Interns

Sexual harassment claims from unpaid interns against companies have been consistently dismissed. Current legal precedent forces students who accepting unpaid internships into a pool of vulnerable, powerless, at risk population. Many cases go undocumented, interns are often disempowered, feeling inferior in the workplace, working for no pay (often actually paying tuition for the honor to work for free), report to multiple superiors. With hopes of a future job offer, interns who experience harassment may repress their feelings from this inappropriate behavior (Healey, 2011).

According to David Yamada (2013), an intern must be directly paid by his or her internship site, to be afforded discrimination and sexual harassment protections that are guaranteed by the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, American with Disabilities Act, and future acts like the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.

Many fields of education require internships putting their students at risk, The Council on Social Work Education (2013) currently holds that baccalaureate programs require a minimum of 400 hours and 900 hours for masters programs of field education. Many of these positions are unpaid, and put students in disempowered positions while completing their education.
Oregon Extends Certain Employee Protections to Interns Performing Work for Educational Purposes
Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber, signed House Bill 2669 on June 13, 2013, placing into law immediately, and protecting interns for discrimination and sexual harassment (HB 2669 A, n.d.). After unanimous passage in both the house and senate Oregon became the only state of afford these protections to interns.

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...ca.org/article/how-unpaid-interns-arent-protected-against-sexual-harassment
HB 2669 A. (n.d.). Retrieved December 1, 2013 from the 2130 Regular Session of the Oregon State Legislature: https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2013R1/Measures/Overview/HB2669
Littler Mendelson (2013, June 21). Oregon Passes Workplace Protection Law for Unpaid Interns. Retrieved from http://www.littler.com/files/press/pdf/2013_06_ASAP_OR_Passes_Workplace_Protection_Law_Unpaid_Interns.pdf
Oregon Advocacy Commissions Office. (2013, May 9). Testimony in support of HB2669, May 9, 2013; House Rules Committee. Retrieved from http://www.oregon.gov/OAC/PDFs/HB%202669,%20Intern%20Protections%20OAC%20testimony%205.9.13.pdf
Yamada, D. C. (2013) The Legal and Social Movement Against Unpaid Internships. (Research Paper 13-34). Retrieved from Social Science Research Network: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2338646

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