Great Lakes Wire

As summer approaches, numerous students from high school to graduate levels seek internships for practical experience. Sherrie Gong Taguchi, a consultant and principal of Career Inspirations, advises employers on developing or enhancing internship programs. She suggests eight steps: clarifying the program's purpose, integrating with targeted schools, offering meaningful work, using top recruiters and mentors, creating networking opportunities within the organization, providing company insights to interns, giving timely feedback and offers, and involving interns in campus recruiting.

The issue of paid versus unpaid internships is significant. Employers should ensure that the primary benefit of an internship is for the intern rather than the employer. The U.S. Department of Labor has a seven-factor test to assess who benefits more from an internship. Akerman LLP’s Blog outlines these tests in its article "The Do’s and Don’ts of Internships." The factors include understanding compensation expectations, educational training similarities, relevance to formal education programs, alignment with academic calendars, duration for beneficial learning, complementing rather than displacing paid employees' work while offering educational benefits to interns, and no entitlement to a paid job afterward.

States may have additional or different factors regarding internships. In Michigan, there is no specific law governing internships; thus employers follow federal guidelines. However, if the work mainly benefits the employer—especially involving minors—the Michigan Youth Employment Standards Act (YESA) applies. This law covers workers under 18 with certain exceptions and requires minors to obtain a work permit or have a training agreement completed by their school district and employer. Employers can pay minors 85% of Michigan's minimum wage of $12.48 per hour with varying work hour limits based on age.

Employers hiring minors in Michigan should also display the Youth Employment poster from the state.

By Michael Burns