Offering unpaid internships? Be sure you're doing these things too

If your company is of the 33% that offer unpaid internships, you’ll want to double check you’re complying with the feds’ guidelines.

Here are the Department of Labor’s six basic requirements that companies must meet to legally offer unpaid internships:

1. The internship, even though it includes actual operation of the facilities of the employer, is similar to training that would be given in an educational environment
2. The internship experience is for the benefit of the intern
3. The intern does not displace regular employees, but works under close supervision of existing staff
4. The employer that provides the training derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the intern, and on occasion its operations may actually be impeded
5. The intern is not necessarily entitled to a job at the conclusion of the internship; and
6. The employer and the intern understand that the intern is not entitled to wages for the time spent in the internship.

Note: These standards only apply to interns working for “for-profit” private sector companies.