I have posted a number of times on the slew of intern lawsuits recently filed under the Fair Labor Standards Act. This may be a new “wave” or fertile new ground for plaintiff side practitioners so I keep following these cases, particularly, the Hearst Corporation case, with more than a little interest. This particular case is entitled Wang v. The Hearst Corporation and was filed in federal court in the Southern District of New York.

The Company is fighting the bid for class certification lodged by a group of unpaid interns who claim they were really employees and therefore denied minimum wage and overtime protections. The essence to securing/keeping certification is the existence of an overall, companywide policy that establishes, ab initio, a group of workers “similarly situated.” The Company has argued that the circumstances surrounding the internships at the nineteen (19) Hearst magazines that overall conclusions about the work experiences and/or “employee” status cannot be made. In sum, there is no commonality, ergo, no “class.”

This is the famous “individuality” defense that I have commented upon frequently. The defendants contend that for the Court to extrapolate from the few individual accounts by the named and/or deposed plaintiffs to all others in the alleged class, many thousands, possibly, is inappropriate.

The Company wrote in its opposing papers that “the bigger picture obscured by plaintiffs is that these internships are desirable learning opportunities for college students who have not yet entered the job market. These students all knew in advance that their internships would be unpaid, they knew the internships were limited to those who could earn academic credit, they knew the internships were of short duration spanning a semester or summer vacation, and they knew there was no job waiting for them at the end.”

I agree with the individuality defense and observe it is the only way to go, as there is no dispute that the people were paid nothing. The “understanding” that existed prior to the commencement of the internships is also important but, if the plaintiffs can demonstrate that they performed “productive work,” there may be an issue for the Employer. Thus, in any intern situation, be aware of this minefield.