DoL releases new rules for 'educational' internships

Internships are supposed to be one of those high-impact educational practices, right? So it's of interest to Assess this! when things like this happen.

Amid increasing national attention to unpaid internships, the U.S. Department of Labor released a statement on Wednesday that clarifies employers' and colleges' roles under federal law.

The document applies a six-part test from the Fair Labor Standards Act, which derives from a 1947 Supreme Court decision involving railroad-company trainees, to modern-day interns in the for-profit sector. For interns to work for private companies without compensation, the Labor Department says, their positions must meet six criteria.

First, "the internship, even though it includes actual operation of the facilities of the employer, is similar to training which would be given in an educational environment."

And now, for the rest of the story...