Some employers and their workers might find it surprising to learn that in most states unpaid interns, unpaid trainees and volunteers are not covered by state harassment and employment discrimination laws. This exclusion is slowly changing.
Protected Status
California recently became the fourth state to pass a law (CA AB 1443) that protects unpaid interns, volunteers, and individuals in apprenticeship training programs from harassment and discrimination in the workplace. Like employees, this law protects unpaid workers from discriminatory decisions based on the individual’s race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, or military or veteran status.
Accountability
For California employers this means they can now be sued for failing to hire, provide training, terminating, or making any other decision regarding the terms and conditions of the individual’s internship based on the intern’s protected status. An employer may also be responsible for the acts of an unpaid intern that harass employees, applicants or other interns.
California’s law goes into effect January 1, 2015. The law does not expressly require that employers inform employees or interns of the law, but employers should consider updating any anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies they have to include unpaid interns. Because unpaid interns are often young, inexperienced and vulnerable targets employers should also include this subject in training programs.
Illinois, New York, Oregon and Washington, D.C. also ban harassment and discrimination in the workplace directed toward unpaid interns.