A group of interns sued Charlie Rose for unpaid wages.
They won. Well, it was settled which means that the Charlie Rose contingent gets to admit “no liability or wrongdoing.”
But the lawyer for one of the interns pointed out that:
…the case could prove to be a watershed moment
…Lawyer Rachel Bien said media industry players are scrambling to revamp their operations in the wake of the Charlie Rose outcome and separate lawsuits filed by former interns against the Fox and Hearst corporations.
The misuse of unpaid interns as replacement for regular workers in widespread across the media landscape because the practice save money, Bien said.
“There are a number of companies that are holding their breath waiting to see what happens,” she said.
I’d guess that since we’re pulling out of the recession, a lot of college grads are now thinking that unpaid glam internships are not such a great deal and conflict with the Fair Labor Practices Act. Basically, glam no longer makes serfdom attractive.
Good for the interns.