How can you be sure your internship program is legally compliant?

Legally, unpaid interns must benefit educationally from their experience with your organization. Remember that interns are in your office to receive training that benefits them-they are not there primarily to benefit the employer. If your interns are unpaid, you will need to make sure that you are satisfying the Department of Labor's six-part test for treating the intern as a true student, as opposed to an employee.

Following are the specific questions that HR professionals need to ask themselves:

1. Is the training similar to that which would have been given in a vocational school?

2. Is the training primarily for the benefit of the intern?

3. Does the intern displace regular employees or work under their close direction?

4. Does the company derive immediate advantages from the activities of the intern or are operations impeded?

5. Is the intern necessarily entitled to a job at the conclusion of the training program?

6. Does the company and interns understand that the intern is not entitled to wages for the time spent in training?

If an employer has satisfied this test, it should be protected from a finding that the intern is an employee, unless there is an applicable state law that is more restrictive, said Joel Rice, Of Counsel, Fisher & Phillips, in an interview with CCH. It is always good to consult counsel before implementing an intern program in any particular state.