Kara S Alaimo, Columnist

Pay Your Interns, Corporate America

It's for your own good.

April 16, 2018 at 6:00 PM UTC

Updated on

April 16, 2018 at 6:12 PM UTC

Kara Alaimo is an associate professor of communication at Fairleigh Dickinson University. She is the author of “Over the Influence: Why Social Media Is Toxic for Women and Girls — and How We Can Take It Back.”

What they said.
Photographer: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images

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A piece of advice to companies hiring interns this summer: Pay them for their work.

Some organizations don’t, claiming that the chance to learn on the job is compensation enough. But not only has this left corporations vulnerable to lawsuits — NBCUniversal, Hearst, Condé Nast, Fox Searchlight Pictures, Warner Music, Coach and Viacom are just a few companies sued by former interns — it’s a foolish human resources strategy.