With summer fast approaching, many companies are considering establishing internship programs or engaging unpaid interns to take on specific roles for the duration of the summer. Although students have pursued these positions as a way to enhance their resumes and gain real-world experience in their chosen fields, companies that hire unpaid interns have recently come under fire. Most notably, a series of putative nationwide class action lawsuits have been filed by former interns claiming that companies have been using the unpaid interns to supplement their workforces in a cost-effective manner during a difficult economy. These suits allege that unpaid internship programs run afoul of federal and state labor laws by failing to compensate interns for the work they perform. In the wake of these suits and ramped-up enforcement efforts by the United States Department of Labor (DOL), now is the ideal time for employers to evaluate their unpaid internship programs.

In order to comply with federal law, an unpaid internship program must meet a strict, six-prong test developed by the DOL. The six requirements include the following:

- The internship must be similar to training that would be given in an educational environment, even though it includes the actual operation of the employer's facilities

- The internship experience must be for the benefit of the intern