_Unpaid internship laws need specificity_

Companies are usually blamed for hiring unpaid interns. Yet universities are an overlooked contributor in the system that condones this unfair practice.

Colleges are required by law to offer internship classes ““ at UCLA, the Center for Community Learning offers 195 and 95 internship courses in several departments.

Such classes allow businesses to easily get away with using free labor, simply requiring interns to receive college credit for their work rather than wages.

But some laws state that academic credit alone does not guarantee the legality of an unpaid internship.

In order to hold universities accountable for promoting paid internships and substantial unpaid internships, the law needs to be more precise.

California and a number of other states require interns to receive credit if they are unpaid. However, federal regulators have decided that college credit is not an escape route for employers looking for free labor.

The U.S. Department of Labor released six criteria that determine whether an internship is legal.

Unfortunately, these standards are up to interpretation.
For example, the law states that the employer can derive “no immediate advantage from the activities” of interns, a nebulous and confusing requirement.

These laws need to be reformed in order to direct schools in dealing with unpaid internships. Clearer laws could even force UCLA to be more careful in determining which internships students can receive credit for.

As it stands, UCLA essentially endorses unpaid internships, which are often exploitative of students who are more than willing to work for free.

While internships can give students a competitive edge in industries from entertainment to engineering, some interns spend their time filing papers or doing other menial tasks.

Moreover, offering course credit for internships creates inequities between lower and higher income students.

Some students do not have the luxury of taking unpaid internships solely for the valuable work experience. Rather, they must take paid jobs in order to support themselves throughout college.

In this situation, students are disadvantaged because they have to choose between furthering their career and working to pay the bills.

Another drawback is that students often end up incurring costs from taking such classes, as many must pay for gas, parking and unit fees to take the class.

Course credit is also a cheap way for universities to bestow units upon students for internship work. In lieu of facilitating an actual course and hiring faculty to do so, universities can simply grant students several units for an internship.

This is not to say that internship classes do not have value. At UCLA, these courses require students to report weekly to their internship coordinator, as well as complete a final paper, reading and writing assignments. Students are able to connect their work experience with their undergraduate education, said Kathy O’Byrne, Director of the Center for Community Learning.

For now, UCLA should be more proactive in promoting settings in which students are compensated for the work that they do. Simply offering credit required by law is laziness on the UC’s part.

Unpaid internships can be notoriously exploitative, and until laws are revised, colleges should make the extra effort to ensure they are not complicit in this practice.