Why unpaid internships are illegal

12 Jan Why unpaid internships are illegal

Unpaid internships aren’t just wrong; in most cases they are illegal. Underemployment law, people who work set hours, do set tasks, and contribute value to an organisation are “workers” and are entitled to the minimum wage. This means even if your internship was just about being expected to turn up at a certain time and add some numbers in Excel you are likely to be entitled to pay. And as it is impossible to sign away your rights, even if you have agreed to work without pay you can still claim. Every time an intern has taken their employer to court for not being paid the minimum wage they have won.

Even better, working with top employment lawyers, Intern Aware has won back thousands of pounds for interns who have been refused their right to fair pay. Visit our Claim Back Your Pay page for more details.

If you want to learn more about the law and unpaid internships, see our briefing here.

Check out the cases of Keri Hudson and Nicola Vetta who won back their pay in court.