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The Conflicting Judicial Interpretations Of “Employee” Under The Fair Labor Standards Act: Precluding Employee Status To Student Interns And Its Effect On Employer Exploitation, Bernice M. Bird
Bernice M. Bird
Nationally, the Department of Labor has increased its investigations into internships upon reports of employer exploitation. However, the class of interns and trainees remain without the remedy of backpay under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) primarily because of the judiciary’s interpretation of the term “employee.” The judiciary has broadly precluded interns and trainees employee status under the FLSA, unless either a contractual obligation is shown or all of the Walling factors are substantiated. With regard to the latter, the courts have incorrectly applied the rule of statutory construction as it pertains to the FLSA. Rather than broadly interpreting whether …