LANDMARK VICTORY SEES JOURNALISM INTERN AWARDED OVER £2,000 IN PAY AND DAMAGES
A journalism intern has scored a victory for interns everywhere by successfully suing her publishing company employer for whom she interned unpaid for several weeks. Keri Hudson, 21, proved in an employment tribunal that she had the right to be paid for two months’ work she carried out at My Village website last year, despite having no written contract with her employer.
The National Union of Journalists – which helped her bring the case to court – had some harsh words for bosses who take advantage of young people’s desperation to gain experience in competitive industries like journalism. The NUJ’s general secretary Jeremy Dear warned media employers to “pay interns – or face the consequences”.
The tribunal heard the Keri had received no pay from her employer, despite working 10am to 6pm every day, being responsible for a team of writers – and even for hiring new interns. Apparently, “the company had told her she was not eligible for any pay because they considered her an intern”.
But the judge was having none of it. After hearing a description the work she had carried out, he ruled that she was a ‘worker’ by law – and was therefore entitled to the National Minimum Wage (£5.93 per hour) and holiday pay. My Village was ordered to pay her £1024.98 in damages, £913.22 in national minimum wage back pay and £111.76 in holiday pay.
As one of only a handful of interns who have successfully brought their employer to book, Keri’s victory is highly significant. It sets an important precedent and brings interns a step closer to gaining the legal recognition they deserve. It also means young people who can’t afford to intern unpaid could start seeing more advertisements for paid internships in the future.
The message to employers who exploit interns is clear: It is NOT okay to take advantage of young people’s desperation to gain experience and fleece them for free labour.
NUJ general secretary Jeremy Dear said:
“Today’s judgement sends a clear warning to all employers to pay their interns, abide by the law or face the consequences.
“It is unacceptable that full time staff are being sacked while unpaid interns are being exploited. This is the first case of its kind — if employers continue to break the law it will not be the last.”
The NUJ are now appealing to more unpaid journalism interns to come forward if they believe they should have been paid for their work, as part of their ‘Cashback for Interns’ campaign. Those seeking further information should email legal@nuj.org.uk.
*Will this victory really make a difference?
Will other interns be persuaded to challenge their employer over the pay they are due – or are most young people still too worried about shooting themselves in the foot? Will Keri’s case make employers think twice about taking on unpaid interns – or are their odds of being prosecuted so low that they’ll keep taking their chances?
Hooray!!! Some good news at last. That should make the employers think about a few things! Not before time either!!!
Great news! Well done Keri!
Well done Keri! And there’s this one as well:
http://www.thestage.co.uk/news/newsstory.php/31973/unpaid-extra-wins-fight-for-minimum-wage
They’re all at it!
Why do all employers get tarred with the exploitation brush? Internships provide VITAL experience to otherwise inexperienced young people and give them much better chances of finding work. Internships are supposed to be for those who are STILL studying, so just as a student doesn’t expect to be paid at Uni, why do they expect it for practical training? Employers are still finding it tough in the recession and further legal constraints just don’t help flexibility at all. Interns can call the shots and say they can only work 3 hours a day and employers must be content with that. There is no contract of employment as its not an official job. Interns can easily walk out anytime they think they are being taken advantage of. Unions have nothing else better to do other than meddle and reduce opportunities for young people. We are proud of the opportunties we offer to our interns and the letters of thanks they give us are testimony to that.
“Internships are supposed to be for those who are STILL studying, so just as a student doesn’t expect to be paid at Uni, why do they expect it for practical training?”
Yes, but the problem is that they’re not! They’re used (very often) after graduation, as a replacement for entry-level positions. If we had the same system in the UK as in France, for example, an internship could ONLY be offered while the person was still at Uni.
What we have been seeing in the UK is a sort of internship-creep, where more and more industries are using internships as a way of keeping their labour costs down.
If you have a look at some of the previous posts on this site, you’ll see countless stories of interns working far more than a few hours a day, or a couple of days a week. Instead, many unpaid internships are for long-term jobs (far more than the 2 week maximum), have regular hours, and clearly delineated responsibilities.
Clare
@Julia Feuell
I’m really glad to hear that you offer high quality opportunities to young people. I hope / assume that you pay them for their contribution to your workplace?
However, if I may say, you seem to be some way behind this debate.
For one thing, this:
…is just plain untrue in 2011. I have never heard of a graduate internship where the intern could come and go as they please. (Nor had I in 2002, when I interned, for that matter!)
Likewise, this:
…is also a flawed point I’m afraid. Although many employers like to think that they can duck out of paying someone simply by calling them an ‘intern’, the law says otherwise, whether there is a written contract or not. Remember, the NMW laws were put in place to protect vulnerable workers. At the time it was assumed these would be low-skilled and / or immigrant workers, but in recent years we have also seen that university graduates need protecting too.
Then you say:
…but this doesn’t go anywhere near taking account of the dire situation that so many young people find themselves in today. The reality is that because permanent jobs are so scarce in many industries – and employers say again and again how much they value experience – graduates feel they have no choice but to ‘do their time’ and work unpaid for months (sometimes years!) in order to gain the experience necessary to be considered for a permanent job. The trouble is that because everybody is doing this, internships are getting longer and longer, with less and less chance of a job at the end of them. Too often, when an internship comes to an end, that worker is simply replaced by another intern.
In addition, it sounds like you might be new to Graduate Fog, but the general consensus here is that this:
…is no excuse for exploiting junior workers. If you can’t afford to pay the staff you need to run your business then sorry, but that’s not kind of business at all. Expecting a 21-year-old to fund your business out of their own pocket is an outrageous demand.
Just out of interest, are you opposed to our nation’s NMW laws in general, or just when they are applied to university graduates?
I would agree that graduates that have graduated shouldn’t be taking internships meant for those who are taking placements as part of their course. A graduate quite rightly needs to find paid employment (and yes I do agree with the minimum wage!). True internships are undergraduates, who are paid for their travelling and sometimes paid a bonus for some work, but cannot receive pay in a contractual sense. We have interns request to work for us for four months working five hours a day and if that suits us, we welcome them. They do project work for us – marketing and technology related usually and can demonstrate sound and valued experience at the end of their time here. I also run a recruitment agency and am very aware of the frustration graduates have to find a job and can speak from many years experience that those graduates who keep themselves busy – voluntary work, travelling, unpaid work experience are considered above those that have not done anything since graduating. Having said that, there is something wrong if you continue to work for a company unpaid for a long time too. I agree that would be exploitation, however you can only be exploited if you continue to come to work unpaid! Finally, a top tip for any graduate looking for work is….pick up the phone and CALL a company/recruitment agency, who is hiring. Employers can receive hundreds of CVs a week via the internet, but the candidate who calls up or calls in to the company is the one who will be remembered above all. Also if you send a CV by email, make it relevant at least to the job you are applying for. Its amazing how many people don’t even know what jobs they’ve applied for.
Yet another employer who thinks that unpaid work is only about the person taking the work itself – if they agree to work unpaid, hey that’s fine then, OK to exploit them and OK to withhold opportunities from those who can’t afford to work unpaid.
Ain’t life dandy Julia!
A slightly belated response to Julia’s comment about unions ‘meddling and reducing the opportunities for young people.” I’m afraid that like much in her initial comment she is misinformed.
Our view at the TUC is that if a job needs doing to enable a business to provide products and services for its customers then the people required to do the job should be paid. It’s true that employers are finding it tough during the recession, but that isnt because of red tape. It’s because people are uncertain about their future and reluctant to spend money and the banks, saved by public money let us not forget wont lend it to anyone!
I’d also make the point that if a business can only survive by not paying its workers then there is something wrong with the business. Period!
I think that Julia also shows a limited understanding of the aims and objectives of unions and the TUC. We are for fair and equitable traetment of ALL workers, regardless of whether or not they are in a union (which of course we would like them to be). That lies at the heart of the work we are doing with other organisations to campaign for interns rights. But of course its not just interns who are the victims of exploitation by bad employers. Unpaid workers can and are used to keep wage rates down for paid staff.
Finally I do wish that people like Julia would stop complaining about ’employers all being tarred with the same brus@h and then making appeals on behalf of, I presume, all employers to be allowed to go on not paying workers.
@Carl Roper
Thanks for taking the time to comment – it’s really good to hear direct from the TUC on this. I’m sure people reading this will have a mix of views about unions – especially those of us who live in London, where the RMT is pretty unpopular! – but I for one am really pleased to see the unions getting involved with the interns debate. The main reason for this is because there is simply no-one else who is up to the task. The interns’ rights groups (Intern Aware, Internocracy and Interns Anonymous) do a fantastic job of beating the drum on this issue – but when it comes to backing that with resources (money and people), the TUC is pretty much the only group that has the might to square up to the powers-that-be who are still – shockingly – completely ignoring the issue. We even have a Prime Minister who has publicly said he’s in favour of internships – and STILL nothing has happened to help the graduates who so desperately need support in order to end this insane situation!
There were a couple of things I wanted to highlight from your comment. You say:
I agree 100%. I have no idea how it became acceptable to claim that you simply can’t afford to pay your staff – so you just won’t. As you say, a company that can’t afford to pay its workers (particularly its junior workers, who are the cheapest) frankly doesnt’ deserve to keep trading as it’s not a business.
I think this is an interesting point too:
Also like you, I am still amazed by the number of people who simply don’t ‘get’ this issue. I know there is fear among graduates that enforcing the NMW could mean reducing the number of internships available – but fighting for employers’ rights to exploit interns seems utterly bizarre.
On that point, do you think enforcing the NMW for interns would reduce the number of internships available? I’ve heard that was one of the big fears for low-paid workers when the NMW was brought in – but it turned out to be unfounded, didn’t it? My belief is that most unpaid interns are doing real work that needs to be done – I think in most cases they would keep the interns on and just pay them the NMW. More senior staff won’t want – or have capacity – to do the interns’ work as well as their own.
Well I still don’t ‘get’ it as you put it!
Would you really rather Employers not bother to take on UNDERgraduates (not graduates) for Internships and deny these students the valuable work experience they need to have realistic job prospects whe they finally graduate. Get in the real world!
Julia – no you dont. Under the rather spurious guise of not wanting to ‘deny students…valuable work experience’ you’re advocating employers breaking the law. Not good. Also, if there is work to be with these employers surely they’d need to employ someone to do it so why not graduates? But this time pay them!
@Julia
Sorry – when I say ‘internships’, I’m talking about the type of placement ‘offered’ to graduates, which tend to be for at least two months and involving full-time, proper work. The unpaid undergraduate internships are a slightly different thing.
No-one is saying that internships aren’t useful, because they are. Unfortunately, we have seen in recent years that the balance has tipped far too much in favour of employers, many / most of which are happily taking advantage of young workers’ desperation in order to gain free labour for their own company. All too often, there is no job at the end of the internships – the intern is simply replaced with another intern. As many Foggers will tell you, we think that it is a myth that unpaid internships lead to jobs. In fact, the opposite is true – there is growing concern that unpaid internships are now actually REPLACING paid entry level jobs. Unpaid internships exploit those who do them and exclude those who can’t afford to do them – and they do NOT lead to jobs. Increasingly, the only party that really gains is the employer.
Julia, this is not about UNDERgraduates doing placements as part of their course. It’s about young people, mostly graduates, being used as illegal unpaid workers.
Have a look at what is happening in all these workplaces – it is THAT that is “the real world”!