Interns
of New York City, rejoice. You are now protected
against sexual harassment and discrimination based on race, religion and sexual
orientation in the workplace.
Plus,
The New York Times will now pay you minimum wage, New York University is making
a greater effort to protect you and Columbia University
has told companies it expects its interns to be paid.
Sexual
harassment protection, the latest of these developments, comes thanks to a bill
passed
Wednesday by the New York City Council.
The bill was drafted in response to a federal judge’s decision last October to
dismiss an unpaid intern’s sexual harassment
claim against her boss.
The city joins Oregon and
Washington D.C. on the list of places with legislation that specifically
protects unpaid workers against sexual harassment. In January,
California Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner introduced legislation
to protect unpaid interns in
the Golden State; that
bill is still in committee.
As we have reported, interns aren’t
protected against sexual harassment and workplace
discrimination under federal law. Protection under the Civil Rights Act hinges
on a worker being legally defined as an employee — a status that
requires that a worker be paid, according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
But the New York City bill essentially rejects pay as a
determinant of employment. It defines an intern as:
…an
individual who performs work for an employer on a temporary basis whose work:
(a) provides training or supplements training given in an educational
environment such that the employability of the individual performing the work
may be enhanced; (b) provides experience for the benefit of the individual
performing the work; and (c) is performed under the close supervision of
existing staff. The term shall include such individuals without regard to
whether the employer pays them a salary or wage.
This
new bill joins what seems to be a New York trend toward greater protection for
unpaid interns. After an editorial decrying unpaid internships, the New York
Times announced
Tuesday that it will pay academic interns minimum wage. New
York University has implemented a system that puts potential employers through
a more
stringent approval process before
posting internships for students. And Columbia
University has halted
undergraduate registration credits for internships, a move
that Newsweek called an “attempt to pressure
employers to pay interns.”
Have
you completed an internship for academic credit? Tell us about your
experience.
