Keep Your Internship Program Legal

The Department of Labor lists six criteria it will use to distinguish an intern from an employee. Although some courts have considered them merely factors to consider, the DOL says they are requirements and all of them must be met for an internship to be legal, explains Dinsmore & Shohl attorney J. Corey Asay. Class actions brought by former unpaid interns who allege they were in fact employees and should have received minimum wage and overtime have become a familiar feature of the legal landscape.