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<blockquote data-quote="Jay Barracato" data-source="post: 39930" data-attributes="member: 24">Re: Interns, and the use thereofMost of my experience with internships is in the university research setting (and universities are not necessarily a hotbed of rule following). I have always gotten a sense that the dividing line is based on supervision and repetition. An intern should be able to participate beyond simply observing in a controled manner.Translating into the same example:An intern could patch the console at a paying show under the supervision of a paid staff member where the company is not actually gaining labor because the intern is still supervised by a paid employee.As part of an internship, the intern could be asked to perform any task on a time scale that demonstrates that part of the industry. I think it would be fair to have an intern take part in striking a stage and spend half an hour coiling cables at one show to demonstrate that part of the show process. It would not be fair to use the intern at a series of shows to coil cables. I think the repetition is what pushed it from learning into labor.However, if I was a company using interns this way, I would document the series of tasks (i.e. create a curriculum) the intern was asked to do to clearly demonstrate the intent was to teach, rather than to gain free labor. Unfortunately, the courts are the only place the interpretations of the rules are clarified, and by time it gets to that point, the company providing the internship is probably burnt anyways.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Jay Barracato, post: 39930, member: 24"] Re: Interns, and the use thereof Most of my experience with internships is in the university research setting (and universities are not necessarily a hotbed of rule following). I have always gotten a sense that the dividing line is based on supervision and repetition. An intern should be able to participate beyond simply observing in a controled manner. Translating into the same example: An intern could patch the console at a paying show under the supervision of a paid staff member where the company is not actually gaining labor because the intern is still supervised by a paid employee. As part of an internship, the intern could be asked to perform any task on a time scale that demonstrates that part of the industry. I think it would be fair to have an intern take part in striking a stage and spend half an hour coiling cables at one show to demonstrate that part of the show process. It would not be fair to use the intern at a series of shows to coil cables. I think the repetition is what pushed it from learning into labor. However, if I was a company using interns this way, I would document the series of tasks (i.e. create a curriculum) the intern was asked to do to clearly demonstrate the intent was to teach, rather than to gain free labor. Unfortunately, the courts are the only place the interpretations of the rules are clarified, and by time it gets to that point, the company providing the internship is probably burnt anyways. [/QUOTE]

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