U.S. DOL Adopts “Primary Beneficiary” Test in Determining Status of Unpaid Interns
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APPLIES TO All Employers with Unpaid Interns |
EFFECTIVE January 5, 2018 |
QUESTIONS? Contact HR On-Call |
On January 5, 2018, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued Field Assistance Bulletin No. 2018-2, adopting the “Primary Beneficiary” test used to determine whether or not unpaid interns should actually be classified as employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). Several federal circuit courts have used the primary beneficiary test to determine whether an unpaid intern is in fact an employee, and rejected the DOL’s prior six-factor test as being too rigid.