The Fashion Industry May Have To Pay Their Go-Fers & Minions

Looks like the fashion world, among others, may have to eventually pay that unnamed intern to go get their coffee!

The federal Labor Department’s M. Patricia Smith is stepping up her investigation and cracking down on firms that are treating their unpaid interns like crap without paying them, which would be a violation of minimum wage laws.

The department says the crackdown comes from all those ‘terns that don’t want to file complaints and become known as the “troublemaker”, which would endanger their future employment possibilities.

Oh and we can’t forget how the economy is playing into the explosion of unpaid internships. Cheap ass companies aren’t wanting to pay for people that probably work harder than their actual employees.

Go figure!

But there is one glimmer of hope for all those magazines that hire unpaid interns in bunches.

As long as the companies are in compliance with the six factors, which includes receiving college credit or being mentored by the higher-ups, it’ll still be OK to forfeit a paycheck. However many are arguing that the factors need to be updated as they were part of a Supreme Court ruling back in 1947!

We definitely think it’s time to update that 60 year old ruling, Miz Smith!

But what does the Labor Department think about then interns paying the company for their unpaid employment? Does that count???

[Image via AP Images.]