If you have a company, perhaps you have thought about using an unpaid internship to help train employees, or get some free help for your business. Unfortunately, many companies who have been using unpaid internships to add to their bottom line by getting free help are now in serious trouble with the Internal Revenue Service and face legal trouble, too. There are a number of lawsuits pending or in process that concern the abuse of unpaid internships by many major corporations, including those that have large legal staffs and could have avoided the trouble. Don’t let your company be drawn into a situation that may damage your company’s reputation and profits!

Yes, there are such things as legal unpaid internships. However, you must make sure that your unpaid internships available fall within Federal and state guidelines. Otherwise, you could end up losing your company. Basically, the internship should be largely educational; your company must not receive a material benefit (and in fact, your company may lose money because you will have to devote staff to training, and to fix the mistakes interns will make), and the intern must not do the duties of a paid employee. Nor should there be an understanding that you will hire the intern, or that they are entitled to a job with your company.

Before you create an unpaid internship, review these rules carefully, and make sure that your company is not in violation of the law. No amount of free labour is worth losing your company over!