Showing posts with label minimum wage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label minimum wage. Show all posts
Thursday, January 23, 2014
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Are unpaid interns exploited?
Welcome to the Unpaid Interns Lawsuits Website
"Unpaid interns are becoming the modern-day equivalent of entry-level employees, except that employers are not paying them for the many hours they work. The practice of classifying employees as “interns” to avoid paying wages runs afoul of federal and state wage and hour laws, which require employers to pay all workers whom they “suffer or permit” the minimum wage and overtime. Employers’ failure to compensate interns for their work, and the prevalence of the practice nationwide, curtails opportunities for employment, fosters class divisions between those who can afford to work for no wage and those who cannot, and indirectly contributes to rising unemployment.
"According to the U.S. Department of Labor, an unpaid internship is only lawful in the context of an educational training program, when the interns do not perform productive work and the employer derives no benefit. “If the employer would have hired additional employees or required existing staff to work additional hours had the interns not performed the work, then the interns will be viewed as employees and entitled to compensation under the FLSA.”
"The U.S. Department of Labor’s test is not new. It is based on the United States Supreme Court’s 1947 opinion in Walling v. Portland Terminal Co., 330 U.S. 148, 152-53 (1947), which held that the FLSA’s definition of “to employ” as “to suffer or permit to work” does not include student participation in an educational or vocational training program, so long as the employer derives no benefit from the trainees’ work. The Court cautioned against arrangements “in which an employer has evasively accepted the services of beginners at pay less than the legal minimum without having obtained permits from the [Secretary of Labor].”
"Outten & Golden LLP is committed to ensuring that interns are fairly compensated for their work. To learn more about our class action litigation on behalf of unpaid interns, please peruse the information in the case-specific tabs above, or contact us directly.
QUESTIONS:
1. Do you believe that businesses should be allowed to have unpaid interns?
2. If the government requires businesses to pay interns a wage equal to at least the minimum wage, do you think this will help, or hurt, young people?
"Unpaid interns are becoming the modern-day equivalent of entry-level employees, except that employers are not paying them for the many hours they work. The practice of classifying employees as “interns” to avoid paying wages runs afoul of federal and state wage and hour laws, which require employers to pay all workers whom they “suffer or permit” the minimum wage and overtime. Employers’ failure to compensate interns for their work, and the prevalence of the practice nationwide, curtails opportunities for employment, fosters class divisions between those who can afford to work for no wage and those who cannot, and indirectly contributes to rising unemployment.
"According to the U.S. Department of Labor, an unpaid internship is only lawful in the context of an educational training program, when the interns do not perform productive work and the employer derives no benefit. “If the employer would have hired additional employees or required existing staff to work additional hours had the interns not performed the work, then the interns will be viewed as employees and entitled to compensation under the FLSA.”
"The U.S. Department of Labor’s test is not new. It is based on the United States Supreme Court’s 1947 opinion in Walling v. Portland Terminal Co., 330 U.S. 148, 152-53 (1947), which held that the FLSA’s definition of “to employ” as “to suffer or permit to work” does not include student participation in an educational or vocational training program, so long as the employer derives no benefit from the trainees’ work. The Court cautioned against arrangements “in which an employer has evasively accepted the services of beginners at pay less than the legal minimum without having obtained permits from the [Secretary of Labor].”
"Outten & Golden LLP is committed to ensuring that interns are fairly compensated for their work. To learn more about our class action litigation on behalf of unpaid interns, please peruse the information in the case-specific tabs above, or contact us directly.
QUESTIONS:
1. Do you believe that businesses should be allowed to have unpaid interns?
2. If the government requires businesses to pay interns a wage equal to at least the minimum wage, do you think this will help, or hurt, young people?
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
On failing to see the obvious
10 Things Minimum Wage Haters Don't Want To Admit
It is amazing the extent to which people can fail to see the obvious when it conflicts with what they want to believe. In this list of arguments for raising the minimum wage, compiled by a proponent and published at a well-known media site,
1. Compare point 3 with point 4.
2. Compare point 5 and point 10.
See any problems here?
It is amazing the extent to which people can fail to see the obvious when it conflicts with what they want to believe. In this list of arguments for raising the minimum wage, compiled by a proponent and published at a well-known media site,
1. Compare point 3 with point 4.
2. Compare point 5 and point 10.
See any problems here?
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Increasing the minimum wage in Illinois to $10 an hour - should you move there?
EXCERPTS:
"Gov. Pat Quinn is expected to call on lawmakers to raise the minimum wage, allow online voter registration and switch Illinois to open primary elections when he delivers his State of the State at noon today.
"Quinn wants Illinois' minimum wage to increase from $8.25 to $10 an hour, according to a source familiar with the planned remarks. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, but Illinois' rate has been higher for years.
"The Democratic governor, who faces re-election next year, also intends to focus on his accomplishments since taking office while delivering a frank assessment of the budget challenges the state still faces.
QUESTIONS:
1. Will increasing the minimum wage to $10/hour ensure that everyone will earn more?
2. Who will be hurt by this increase?
3. Do you think those who are hurt by the increase will realize that the governor's policy was the cause of their being hurt?
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