Wednesday 27 February 2013

February's 365/30: 12/28 Things that make me crabby...

12. Things that make me crabby...

Unpaid internships are the bane of my existence! You've worked hard for that degree, passed with flying colours, oh by the way you now have to work for six months+ without any pay before we consider offering you a paid job.

This sort of practice ensures one thing, and one thing alone: Wealthy individuals stay wealthy, and the poor stay poor. I am by no means wealthy, nor am I living on the bread line, but I still can't afford to work for free for undisclosed periods of time, or want to burden my parents by expecting them to subsidise a wage I should be earning.

Under UK Minimum Wage Law (MWL), an employer must pay you a minimum of £6.17 per hour (depending on your age) of you have an "internship" which includes fixed and expected working hours and defined responsibilities. That is not an internship. That is a job. Wages are claimable up to six years in arrears if you think your employer has breached MWL.

For more information go to Intern Aware.

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