As many as one in three interns are being exploited at work

Amidst fears that one in three interns is being exploited through unpaid work, the TUC is launching a new website today aimed at helping young people find out more about their rights at work.

The TUC website www.rightsforinterns.org.uk explains what rights interns should expect, allows them to share their experiences and explains the benefits of joining a union.

The TUC is concerned that as many as one in three of these interns is not being paid for their work, despite qualifying for the minimum wage.

While some employers do pay and provide young people with valuable experience, many employers, the TUC warns, have sought to take advantage of graduates’ desperation to find work in the economic downturn and see interns as a useful source of free labour. Others may be unaware that non-payment of interns is a breach of the law and of national minimum wage rules.

The National Union of Journalists found that almost 80% of members undertaking work experience and who had their work published had received no fee, the broadcast union BECTU claims that unpaid work in film and TV is rife, and a third of the 6,000 internships advertised by employers on the Government’s Graduate Talent Pool website are currently unpaid, according to the TUC.

Any intern who is undertaking work-related tasks, with set hours and a duty to turn up and do the work is probably defined in law as a ‘worker’ and, as such, is eligible for the minimum wage, working time and paid holiday rights. Any internship that does not simply involve observation and work shadowing should qualify for payment. Interns employed as voluntary workers working in the charity sector may be exempt from the national minimum wage, however.

Louise Donaldson, Senior Associate in the employment team at Pinsent Masons LLP, previously commented for Workplace Law on where employers stand when it comes to work experience and payment:

"Under the National Minimum Wage Regulations 1999, most employees and workers over school-leaving age are entitled to receive the national minimum wage. Although there are certain exceptions, for example for apprentices or those doing work experience through government-arranged training schemes, none of these would normally deprive student workers doing work experience from receiving the national minimum wage.

“The only way around having to pay someone the national minimum wage would to be show that they are not 'a worker' as defined in the National Minimum Wage Regulations, and they are unlikely to be able to do this in most cases. The term worker covers employees and any other person who agrees to perform work personally for another person."

TUC General Secretary, Brendan Barber, said:

“Whether they are unscrupulous or genuinely unaware of the rules, too many employers are ripping off talented young people by employing them in unpaid internships that are not only unfair but, in most cases, probably illegal.

“Internships can be a positive experience and offer a kick-start to a career that many young people value. But as more and more graduates are being forced to turn to internships in place of traditional entry level jobs, we’re concerned that a growing number of interns are at risk of real exploitation.

“It is vital that we crack down on those internships that offer little but hard graft for no reward. Employers need to know that there’s no such thing as free labour.”

One of the new chapters in Workplace Law's brand new Employment Law and Human Resources Handbook 2010 focuses on Work experience, internships and apprenticeships, and outlines employers' legal responsibilities when it comes to issues related to internships such as:

• worker status;
• working time;
• minimum wage;
• discrimination; and
• whistleblowing.