The New York State and City Human Rights Laws explicitly protect interns against discrimination, including sexual harassment. For example, the NYS Human Rights Law provides, inter alia: It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice for an employer to … refuse to hire or employ or to bar or to discharge from internship an intern or…
Read More Interns Are Protected Against Discrimination and Sexual HarassmentIn Glatt v. Fox Searchlight Pictures (decided July 2, 2015), the Second Circuit addressed a question of first impression in this Circuit, namely, when an unpaid intern is entitled to compensation as an employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). In this case, unpaid interns working on the Fox Seachlight-distributed film Black Swan or at Fox’s…
Read More Second Circuit Clarifies When Interns are “Employees”, and Entitled to Wages, Under the FLSAYesterday Mayor de Blasio signed legislation designed to protect interns from discrimination, including sexual harassment. The City Council passed the legislation last month, in the wake of a recent federal court decision, Wang v. Phoenix Satellite Television, which held that interns were not employees under, and hence were not entitled to the protections of, the New York City Human…
Read More Mayor de Blasio Signs Legislation Protecting Interns Against Employment Discrimination and Sexual HarassmentNew York State Senator Liz Krueger has introduced legislation (Bill No. S05951) that will “[p]rovide certain civil rights protections for interns.” It was motivated by a recent court decision, Wang v. Phoenix, which held that unpaid interns are not protected by the New York City Human Rights Law. (It is interesting that state intern-protection legislation would…
Read More State Senator Introduces Intern-Protective LegislationIn light of the recent Southern District decision that unpaid interns are not protected against sexual harassment under the New York City Human Rights Law, it appears that new legislation may be forthcoming. Specifically, according to a recent article, the New York City Council member Gale Brewer announced that she would propose legislation to extend…
Read More New Legislation to Protect Unpaid Interns?Although unpaid interns recently obtained a court victory on the wage and hour front (i.e., a ruling that they are “employees” under federal and state wage/hour laws), Southern District Judge P. Kevin Castel recently issued them a defeat on the discrimination/harassment front. In Wang v. Phoenix Satellite Television US Inc., the court dismissed an intern’s…
Read More Court Holds That Unpaid Interns Are Not Protected From Sexual Harassment Under the New York City Human Rights LawThis week the Southern District of New York held, in Glatt v. Fox Searchlight Pictures Inc., 2013 WL 2495140 (SDNY June 11, 2013), that two unpaid interns who worked on the movie Black Swan in New York were “employees” under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the New York Labor Law (NYLL). Citing and applying…
Read More Court Holds That Black Swan Unpaid Interns Were “Employees” Under Federal And New York Wage Laws