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The UB Career Services office acts as a liaison between employers and university academic departments. Career Services works to market internship opportunities for students as well as assist them in conducting their internship search, but does not grant academic credit for approved internships.

Internships can be either paid or unpaid and may or may not be credit bearing. If you are willing to support a student in receiving academic credit the student must contact his/her academic department. All internship credit is granted by an academic department or school/college and students are not guaranteed credit for their internship with your organization. The number of hours a student must complete is determined by the academic department, college, or school. Employers are free to determine the salary or hourly wage for a paid internship as long as it meets the New York State hourly minimum wage requirement. Commission-only experiences will not be posted as internships.

The following is based upon information from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) the leading source of employment information and trends regarding the college educated workforce, as well as on the U.S. Department of Labor standards:

You can offer an unpaid internship as long as the intern receives academic credit for the experience. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) severely restricts an employer's ability to use unpaid interns. It does not limit an employer's ability to hire paid interns. Essentially, if you are a for-profit company, you must either pay the intern, or require that he/she earn academic credit. Many academic programs allow students to earn credit and get paid at the same time, others do not. Please check with the student’s academic program for the most accurate information.

The Department of Labor stipulates that an intern is considered a “learner/trainee” and therefore can be unpaid, if:

• The training is similar to what a student might experience in a vocational school, even though taking place at the employer’s facilities.
• The training is for the benefit of the student.
• The student works under direct supervision of a regular employee and does not displace a regular employee.
• The student is not entitled to a job at the end of the training period.
• The employer provides training and derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the student.
• The employer and the student both agree that the student is not entitled to wages for the training.

No, on both counts. In a typical internship, the employer exercises control over the result to be accomplished and manner by which the result is achieved. Due to this, a student intern may not be considered an independent contractor. This means that an intern cannot be paid as an independent contractor, either. The Department of Labor (DOL) regulations define a volunteer as an individual who provides services to a public agency for civic, charitable or humanitarian reasons without promise or expectation of compensation for services rendered. Thus, an intern at any for-profit company would not fit the definition of a volunteer.

No. Interns generally are not entitled to unemployment compensation after completing an internship.

This is a complex issue and one with no definitive answer. Generally, if an intern is on the payroll, he or she should be covered under the employer’s workers’ compensation policy, just like all other regular employees. If the intern is unpaid and earning academic credit for the internship, he or she is most likely covered under the school’s policies should an injury occur. It is strongly advised, however, that employers who regularly recruit unpaid interns purchase a rider policy for volunteers at their workplaces, as this would prevent students from suing an employer for negligence with unlimited damages. In most cases, the courts look for employer negligence as the basis for any claims.

No. State University of New York (SUNY) administrators may not sign a hold harmless agreement or release of liability, according to statewide policy. This policy is in accordance with the principles defined by the Cooperative Education and Internship Association (CEIA), the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) and the National Society for Experiential Education (NSEE). While credit-bearing internships protect the student under SUNY insurance, it is the state's, and therefore the school’s position, that the school is not responsible for the actions a student may take independently. As the school does not select students for the employer and the employer controls the workplace, company employment policies and the intern’s assignment, signing a hold harmless agreement is not appropriate.