Marvel Sued by Intern in Class Action Wage Lawsuit

[Super Cyborg]

snip

see, the way i read 4 is that the employer should not have immediate advantage at any point of the internship. because that would be a personal gain that the intership should be equally rewarded for.

That would be all well and good in a perfect world, but if organizations and businesses didn't get something out of it, they wouldn't want to do it. If everyone was required to give compensation for intern work, a lot of organizations wouldn't be able to take interns. Whenever I hear internship, it's about gaining real world experience in the field you are interested in, and the best way is to do direct work, so organizations get a little bit of benefits for taking time and money for someone who only helps out for a short amount of time. That experience should help lead to getting a job in the field. There should be case by case situations depending on the type of internship, amount of work done, and the stuff done as well.

 

[Strazdas]

snip

see, the way i read 4 is that the employer should not have immediate advantage at any point of the internship. because that would be a personal gain that the intership should be equally rewarded for.

That would be all well and good in a perfect world, but if organizations and businesses didn't get something out of it, they wouldn't want to do it. If everyone was required to give compensation for intern work, a lot of organizations wouldn't be able to take interns. Whenever I hear internship, it's about gaining real world experience in the field you are interested in, and the best way is to do direct work, so organizations get a little bit of benefits for taking time and money for someone who only helps out for a short amount of time. That experience should help lead to getting a job in the field. There should be case by case situations depending on the type of internship, amount of work done, and the stuff done as well.

im ok with organizations getting use out of interns as long as they pair fair wage for that gain. right now they gain it without having to pay wage, which is unfair.

see, there is a whole bigger culture with corporations not being willing to invest and retain their workers. in the east it is normal to hire a fresh out of university guy, train him up, makming him a loyal employee and real benefits for decades. in the west its throw money at somone and hope he doesnt crash and burn politics.

 

[Super Cyborg]

im ok with organizations getting use out of interns as long as they pair fair wage for that gain. right now they gain it without having to pay wage, which is unfair.

see, there is a whole bigger culture with corporations not being willing to invest and retain their workers. in the east it is normal to hire a fresh out of university guy, train him up, makming him a loyal employee and real benefits for decades. in the west its throw money at somone and hope he doesnt crash and burn politics.

I don't know everything about hiring rates in the States compared to the rest of the world, so what I say will not be 100% accurate. In the states, it depends a lot on your degree, experience, and connections. With my degree, a majority of people went for their Masters right away because it was that, or work in an aquarium for the most part. Depending on the field one goes into depends on their chances of getting into work. There seems to be a lot more people going through college never having a part time job, doing the least amount of work necessary, then expect to get a job right out of college. There are also problems of people jumping around jobs a lot, not because they are laid off but because they don't like the job. There are a number of problems that need to be fixed to make things better, but that's not the topic.

Here in the states, The best way to get prepared to get a job is by doing internships, which depending on the field and company depends on what kind of pay you get. Most people do internships instead of work to get experience in the field they want to get into, so that they look much better when applying. Getting paid is usually the last thing on our mind. Now as a Science Major, it would be really nice if we didn't have to pay for internships, especially since they can get pricey. The internships I pay for though are with small organizations that get their funding by interns, and only a little of it that they take goes for the causes of the organization, because the rest is used for the stuff that we will take part of that costs money. Bigger companies should be able to easily accommodate people, especially when it comes to businesses like Marvel, but when it's an organization that needs funding, I can understand having to pay a little bit. In the internship I'll be doing in South Africa during November and December, it's actually cheaper to stay there the whole time through the internship, because they provide food and housing with the cost, which is much cheaper than if I went there myself for two months.

I'm one who says that internship rules should be based on a variety of situations. If it's a giant company that makes millions to billions a year, then they can fork over money for an internship that also does labor for a certain amount of time. If you are a small organization, especially non-profit, and you need people to help with their work and that by helping people can gain experience, and they are up front about it, than I don't see a problem with it.

 

[Strazdas]

I don't know everything about hiring rates in the States compared to the rest of the world, so what I say will not be 100% accurate. In the states, it depends a lot on your degree, experience, and connections. With my degree, a majority of people went for their Masters right away because it was that, or work in an aquarium for the most part. Depending on the field one goes into depends on their chances of getting into work. There seems to be a lot more people going through college never having a part time job, doing the least amount of work necessary, then expect to get a job right out of college. There are also problems of people jumping around jobs a lot, not because they are laid off but because they don't like the job. There are a number of problems that need to be fixed to make things better, but that's not the topic.

I dont really see a problem with someone going through colledge without part time job. We go there precisely to avoid these kind of jobs to begin with. If we ignore summer jobs, i got my first Job when i was studying my Masters, full time. I have finished my masters, but yet i remain at that job because i liked it here.

People jumping around jobs a lot are mostly because, as you say, they dont like it there. most often caused by management having banana puree for brains. In fact i know quite a few people that got layed off but formally it looked like they left themselves because the company bullied them into agreeing to avoid paying layed off fees.

Here in the states, The best way to get prepared to get a job is by doing internships, which depending on the field and company depends on what kind of pay you get. Most people do internships instead of work to get experience in the field they want to get into, so that they look much better when applying. Getting paid is usually the last thing on our mind.

So your saying that this problem is more cultural than based in law? if you have been conditioned to think you are supposed to slave away for a few spots on your CV the problem is worse than i though. Worse yet, some people actually pay to be able to work. when opposite is what should happen.

I'm one who says that internship rules should be based on a variety of situations. If it's a giant company that makes millions to billions a year, then they can fork over money for an internship that also does labor for a certain amount of time. If you are a small organization, especially non-profit, and you need people to help with their work and that by helping people can gain experience, and they are up front about it, than I don't see a problem with it.

Well, non-profit can have unpaid volunteers, so thats basically what your suggesting.

 

[Denamic]

The problem with unpaid internships is that nothing's really stopping the people hiring you from just getting rid of you and getting new interns. That way, they get free workforce with no drawbacks other than screwing over some idiot that would work for free.

 

[Super Cyborg]

I don't know everything about hiring rates in the States compared to the rest of the world, so what I say will not be 100% accurate. In the states, it depends a lot on your degree, experience, and connections. With my degree, a majority of people went for their Masters right away because it was that, or work in an aquarium for the most part. Depending on the field one goes into depends on their chances of getting into work. There seems to be a lot more people going through college never having a part time job, doing the least amount of work necessary, then expect to get a job right out of college. There are also problems of people jumping around jobs a lot, not because they are laid off but because they don't like the job. There are a number of problems that need to be fixed to make things better, but that's not the topic.

I dont really see a problem with someone going through colledge without part time job. We go there precisely to avoid these kind of jobs to begin with. If we ignore summer jobs, i got my first Job when i was studying my Masters, full time. I have finished my masters, but yet i remain at that job because i liked it here.

People jumping around jobs a lot are mostly because, as you say, they dont like it there. most often caused by management having banana puree for brains. In fact i know quite a few people that got layed off but formally it looked like they left themselves because the company bullied them into agreeing to avoid paying layed off fees.

Here in the states, The best way to get prepared to get a job is by doing internships, which depending on the field and company depends on what kind of pay you get. Most people do internships instead of work to get experience in the field they want to get into, so that they look much better when applying. Getting paid is usually the last thing on our mind.

So your saying that this problem is more cultural than based in law? if you have been conditioned to think you are supposed to slave away for a few spots on your CV the problem is worse than i though. Worse yet, some people actually pay to be able to work. when opposite is what should happen.

I'm one who says that internship rules should be based on a variety of situations. If it's a giant company that makes millions to billions a year, then they can fork over money for an internship that also does labor for a certain amount of time. If you are a small organization, especially non-profit, and you need people to help with their work and that by helping people can gain experience, and they are up front about it, than I don't see a problem with it.

Well, non-profit can have unpaid volunteers, so thats basically what your suggesting.

It seems like we agree overall. I do agree that things do need to change to make things better, and I should've clarified that part in my other posts. From what I know, Volunteer work and Internships can be close, with the main difference that I know of being that volunteers help out in short time periods, and the commitment isn't as big, where internships have a bit more defined times and schedule to help. I would love to be able to pay for internships, but there are cases where I see why it would not be possible.

The main problem in the states is not only that people take certain advantages of internships and the like, but that there are lots of people in certain fields, and that to get a job, or even a decent one, you have to have a certain amount of experience, which the only way to get is through internships. This is going off of my experiences, and it's based on the field one works in as well that decides what one needs to do in order to get experience they need.

By the way, I was talking about internships from non-profit organizations. I've done volunteer work at certain places, and the experience one gets is quite minimal when it comes to getting really good experiences. Internships I've been looking at do long periods of time, with lectures and field work and the costs usually pay for the equipment people use, as well as rooming and food. I haven't seen one where you have to pay for the internship, and they didn't provide other stuff in return.

In the end for this case, I think it depends on all the conditions. If the person was not paid minimum wage, but their living expenses were paid, then I doubt he has room. If he didn't get paid, and had to pay for all his living expenses, then that's not right.

 

[Jopoho]

I'm one who says that internship rules should be based on a variety of situations. If it's a giant company that makes millions to billions a year, then they can fork over money for an internship that also does labor for a certain amount of time. If you are a small organization, especially non-profit, and you need people to help with their work and that by helping people can gain experience, and they are up front about it, than I don't see a problem with it.
Well, non-profit can have unpaid volunteers, so thats basically what your suggesting.

The problem here is that when internships must be paid, there is very little incentive to have interns at all. You might as well find regular employees. Interns generally won't have much experience, so an employee wouldn't have to have much either. They aren't going back to school presumably, which means you don't spend time constantly training new batches of interns. Even a company with millions is going to think twice before handing out money to interns that will be gone in three months times.

This doesn't make unpaid interns the right thing to do, but consequences are sure to arise the more and more they are cracked down on. Maybe it's for the best, since it would relieve the pressure on college students telling them to do things for free, but having the willingness and means to work for months for free is an advantage some interns wouldn't be able to press anymore (which brings in a whole mess of issues about financial privilege, which is also important).