Have interns? Be very careful!

[Phil O'Keefe]

Apparently a lot of studios and labels are getting sued by unpaid interns. No, not for sending them down to the local electronics shop to pick up a bag of nanowebers, but for unpaid wages. If they're involved in a legit training program that benefits the intern (as opposed to doing work that benefits the studio) that's apparently one thing, but a lot of interns at a lot of studios are actually more like unpaid labor - and that's against the law.

Here's a couple of link to an article you may find interesting.

http://www.sonicscoop.com/2013/06/20/unpaid-intern-lawsuits-what-every-studio-owner-should-know/?goback=.gde_127842_member_252887515

Be careful out there guys - and be fair to those who assist you.

I'd love to hear some of your thoughts on the subject.

 

 

[GloomGenerator]

Interesting. I had often considered seeing if there was a local studio where I could offer to help out in exchange for a little training along the way. Perhaps if such suits are coming up such an arrangement will be harder to come by?

[Phil O'Keefe]

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GloomGenerator wrote:

Interesting. I had often considered seeing if there was a local studio where I could offer to help out in exchange for a little training along the way. Perhaps if such suits are coming up such an arrangement will be harder to come by?

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If it is legitimate training, that's apparently one thing, but I suspect you're correct and that training internship opportunities will become even harder to come by due to worries over being accused of making the intern do "unpaid work" when you ask them to go set up the drum mikes - even though seeing how they do at something like that is a legitimate part of training them.