Need help with California labor/internship laws

Brodo Faggins

So I'm currently working a non-paid internship at a media firm in LA, two days a week. It takes me an hour to commute each way, and since my temping position isn't really turning up a lot of jobs for me, I'm losing money by continuing. I can't complain of course, as it gives me valuable connections and experience.

The problem is my boss' boss. She's insane. Dresses her pit bull up in frilly sweaters, bring it to work. Has dyslexia, and screams for people to shut up when more than one person is talking at the same time in a conference or meeting. That's fine, Hollywood's full of crazies. The thing is, I was hired as my boss' personal assistant, even if her boss is her superior. I like the person I'm directly under; she's fair and keeps me busy enough.

Since I'm only doing two days a week, it's not too much a strain on my wallet; I do small tech support jobs on the side for family friends, so gas and lunch money isn't too bad a problem; I just can't save up for anything, and my gas needle is perpetually hovering near E. However, the crazy boss wants me to come in a full five days a week, and today, after my boss left for a weekend vacation, she immediately gave me a ton of tasks, sidetracking me from the tasks I was given. At the same time, she asked me if I could start coming in a full five days a week.

I explained to her my financial situation, and she told me that she'd be willing to pay me a bit, like around 30 bucks a week to help with gas. Even then, that wouldn't be anywhere near enough, and I can't afford to take this internship five days a week.

She's unwilling to bend on this matter, so for now, I told her an unconvincing maybe. This lady's well connected, and sticking it through would be beneficial in the long run, but at the present, I simply cannot afford to do it. My direct boss is away on vacation, I'll take it up with her as soon as she gets back, and hopefully they can sort things out.

What I want to know is; are there any labor laws regarding interns? I looked through California's labor laws, but I didn't see anything regarding internships. Am I screwed here? The boss' boss is the crazy type of lady that would fire me for disagreeing, and I can't afford that either.

kaliyama

The thing that's wrong with your post is that it's not clear what you're asking. First you say you can't complain. Then you do complain about the crazy lady at work. Then about the fact that you're unpaid.
Do you want to see if there's some law that will make them a) retain you and work and b) pay you?

Look here for general information - this is about from 15 minutes of searching. Try googling next time.

http://www.dir.ca.gov/DLSE/dlse.html
http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/opinions/1998-11-12.pdf is particularly useful

If you're not getting any college credit for it, you probably have a right to either minimum wage or something close to it. If you are getting college credit, it probably counts as an internship. I don't see why you'd want to ask for $ though - litigation or the threat of litigation is sure to burn bridges as quickly as anything else with this woman, and for chump change at that.

It's not even clear what she's not willing to bed on - is she not willing to bend on five days, on the amount of gas money she's giving you, or not paying for an hourly wage?

Feral

Well, the company is probably already in violation of labor laws to begin with. An unpaid internship in California must be directly supervised by an educational institution and cannot involve tasks that directly benefit the employer. Interns are not unpaid labor - they're students and an internship is supposed to be a learning experience.

If you need the reference, you have to ask yourself, "how much ass am I willing to kiss for this reference?" If you need the money more than the reference, you can demand that they switch your position to a paid internship and, if they refuse, file a complaint with the labor department for back pay for all the work you've already done.

FYI, your commute to work is your responsibility. Companies are not required to reimburse you for travel or gas expenses between your home and your primary place of employment.

Brodo Faggins

Basically, I'm complaining here because I can't complain to her directly, she's likely to flip out. I'm receiving college credit (although they haven't done the paperwork for it yet...), but me being able to show a law saying that I can't legally intern for five days in a row per week would make my case stronger here.

re: that second link: it doesn't state anything about hours, which is my main concern here. I basically need to know if there is anything in writing regarding the minimum/maximum number of hours non-paid interns can be told to work.

t feral: Yeah, I think they're in violation here, as they've just started their firm in the past couple of months. Shit, this probably means I won't be able to receive that credit, either.

Fuck. I think I'm going to stick it out for the remainder of the summer, but goddamn, this puts a whole new spin on things.

Horus

I was an intern at a TV Network stations from what I remember the HR lady told me during school year its limited to 20-30 and summer there no limit but she said by law they have to pay me which was weird since theres a lot of places that don't pay.

In my case I duked it out getting minimum and working with stuck ups, but I landed a job at another department thats really awesome and got to do a lot of things. If money is an issue, why don't you ask your parents they should understand the investment you are trying to make here. If not get a loan and just keep a receipt of all business expenses may be taxable.

Anyway I think you should stay and learn how to work for a crazy boss, thats in my opinion good experience.

Good luck with your decision.

Brodo Faggins

Dad ain't here and my mom's working two jobs to make ends meet. I'm not going to ask her for money. I have a checking account with some cash left over from my campus job, and it would definitely be enough to last the summer, but...yeah, I don't want to go back to school in September with an empty wallet.

And yeah, it's a good life experience, I guess...

Thanatos

Explain to her that $30 a week just isn't enough for you to be able to work there for 5 days a week. Tell her you're pulling in $150 a week doing tech support for friends, family, and various connections through them, and you feel like you'd need to be getting substantially more than $30 a week to be able to even afford to come in for 5 days. I mean, really, would she rather have you for free 2 days a week, or not at all?

kaliyama

Brodo Faggins wrote: »

Basically, I'm complaining here because I can't complain to her directly, she's likely to flip out. I'm receiving college credit (although they haven't done the paperwork for it yet...), but me being able to show a law saying that I can't legally intern for five days in a row per week would make my case stronger here.

re: that second link: it doesn't state anything about hours, which is my main concern here. I basically need to know if there is anything in writing regarding the minimum/maximum number of hours non-paid interns can be told to work.

t feral: Yeah, I think they're in violation here, as they've just started their firm in the past couple of months. Shit, this probably means I won't be able to receive that credit, either.

Fuck. I think I'm going to stick it out for the remainder of the summer, but goddamn, this puts a whole new spin on things.

"Directly supervised" just means that they approve you getting college credit for it, in practice. If you are getting college credit, you have no claim to $. You can wave the stuff in their face, especially if they're too small to have legal representation, but if you're trying not to alienate them that's the worst route to take. Thanatos' advice is the best on the thread.

As that SF Gate article notes, there's a circuit split, and while I have a feeling the 9th circuit would require all six criteria be met, that would probably be an appellate decision and the roberts court would find it a question of totality of the circumstances.