(from Associations NOW) The Department of Labor approved a new set of guidelines in January that changed the rules that distinguish interns from employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The less rigid guidelines make it easier for nonprofit organizations to offer unpaid internships. A nonprofit can treat unpaid interns as volunteers, but then cannot offer them any compensation or other monetary benefit other than reimbursement of parking expenses. Otherwise, the intern either must be paid wages and treated as an employee, or their internship must pass the new seven-factor Department of Labor internship test. The overriding principal of the new DOL test, which is more flexible than the old one, is whether the internship primarily benefits the intern.
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