<p>If I am doing an (unpaid) internship for which I was not asked to sign a written contract. I’m not learning anything new or learning any new skills, but I feel as if I am getting treated like an employee with my workload. Is this legal or am I being exploited? </p>
<p>With unpaid internships you are often expected to do the same work as others in that position. It is not often called the “grunt work” for nothing. It’s all about gaining work experience. However, if you don’t feel productive there/have some other ideas of what you could be doing with your time, by all means look elsewhere. Or talk to your employer (using this term loosely) about if there is any more meaningful work or new skills you could learn on the job</p>
<p>Check out these guidelines: <a href=“WHD Fact Sheets | U.S. Department of Labor”>http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs71.pdf</a> According to the Department of Labor, the employer must ensure the internship is for your benefit, and must not gain the immediate advantage from you (ie, you can’t be saving them money by taking on the work normally done by a paid employee)</p>
<p>Are there other interns where you are at? Are your hours abnormal? Do you preform many of the same tasks as paid employees there? Have you talked to your employer about what skills you hope to gain from this experience?</p>
<p>its too late to talk to him about any changes that could be made, and I found out through my college that I can’t get any credit from this one. It’s the first internship I have ever had and I am just really not pleased with how it turned out. I have another internship lined up that benefits me more than this one, and I cant deal with both and go to school at the same time. I’m not a quitter and I’ve held out for as long as I can take and I really just cant do it anymore</p>
<p>If this is the case, you need to leave theinternship. If it is causing you this much frustration and you aren’t benefiting in any way, quitting is the right choice.</p>
<p>My mind is made up to quit, but I am just worried that it will affect my future career. I contacted my adviser and he said that I had three more years to get more internships in addition to the pending one I have already received. The company isn’t really notable, and I am a freshman in college, but I am just scared that my boss will get in touch with my future employers for other internships and ruin my career</p>
<p>How much longer is the internship meant to continue? Is the boss truly unapproachable? Have and issues/conflicts arisen in your time there? Hopefully the boss at this new internship can provide a great reference to future employers. </p>
<p>its meant to go on until September. Again I start school and I won’t be able to keep up both. The second internship is 10000% better than this one as it is with an extremely good organization with people with contacts in my field. My coworkers seem to like me, especially my supervisor in the field i intend to work at when I graduate
I just worry that my old employer will say something bad about me if a boss googles me and decides to ask questions</p>
<p>Consider the fact that the internship is unpaid as an indication of the difficulty in getting a true entry level paid job of that type or in that industry.</p>
<p>Both are unpaid, but I truly feel as if I am doing the work of a paid employee in the internship I would like to leave. The great internship offers training and experience, as opposed to unpaid work with no real benefit</p>
<p>@gloria678 I understand that concern. However, while your boss could comment about subjective aspects (perceived attitude, etc.) he cannot legally lie to future employers. Even if you didn’t leave early he could make negative remarks, if there was a perceived issue with your work/.I really recommend talking to him, explaining you don’t have the time to continue, and see what you can do to end on a positive note. Otherwise, you may just have to risk it or stay and give up the new opportunity.</p>
<p>My boss is very unprofessional and mentions previous interns who have left the company. Plus I have already started the other position and I don’t want to leave</p>
<p>Then the best I can recommend is quitting, with a truthful, but simple (omit as necessary) explanation. Be gracious and hope for the best. Good luck.</p>
<p>thank you for the advice. this is the first time I’ve had to quit something and I’m very nervous about it</p>
<p>Just resign the job and don’t put it on your resume. You have no legal obligation to continue. Giving notice is usually the professional thing to do. If he He is not going to know where you apply in the future. I don’t know of many students doing unpaid internships, the most legitimate ones are paid or for credit. I do know that in some industries unpaid internships do go on. I knew of one person who did it and had to work very hard doing employee work, but she was rewarded by that firm getting her a highly desired paid position elsewhere when she was done, because they had the contacts to do that for her and that was the understood reward. I don’t want to get into the legalities of unpaid interns but likely he is not going strictly by labor laws.</p>
<p>This is an unfortunate situation and has all the indications of an employer taking advantage of an ambitious student. As one of the above posters mentioned, it is not legal for you to perform tasks that a paid employee would otherwise need to do unless the employer pays you. Not only is it completely legal for you to leave your current position, it is illegal for your “employer” to have you do the work you are doing.</p>
<p>Some more clarifications… nearly every job in the United States is “at-will,” which means that both parties (you and your employer) have the legal right to end your employment at any time, for any reason (as long as that reason is not discriminatory) or for no reason at all, with as much or as little notice as you want. In other words, your boss can always fire you, and you can always quit on the spot. The system works because employers actually value their employees and don’t simply want to fire everyone who makes them upset once or twice, and employees want their jobs or want previous employers to act as references for future jobs, so they don’t often just up and quit.</p>
<p>In your case, you are not even an employee, so you certainly are not obligated to continue working. If you got no value out of this job, then there is no point in putting it on your resume (regardless of whether you worked the full summer or quit after a day), as it will simply take away space that can be used for more valuable experience you have earned. Your boss has no way of knowing where you are applying in the future, and future potential employers will have no way of knowing you worked there for a few weeks this summer.</p>
<p>If I were you, I would do one of two things: either quit or demand to be paid, being sure to have the DOL requirements for unpaid internships ready so that your “boss” knows that he is dealing with someone who knows a thing or two about their own legal rights as an employee. You could legally sue your employer for failure to pay minimum wage, and recent precedents set indicate that you would probably win.</p>
<p>You have no obligation to put an unpaid internship on your resume. (especially if you are not getting credit) What you are doing is called volunteering. LOL</p>
<p>Today, most businesses that are credible either pay interns or have a very structured program. </p>
<p>There will be work involved and you may not like it. What you learn may not be obvious to you at the time.</p>
<p>Don’t worry about the boss. He has more important things to do than hunt down potential employers and tell them what an awful intern you were…</p>
<p>Although it depends on the state, I’m pretty sure it is illegal if you are not being mentored and learning anything new.</p>