9:09 p.m. | Updated Charlie Rose and his production company have agreed to pay as much as $250,000 to settle a class-action lawsuit brought by a former unpaid intern who claimed minimum-wage violations.
Under the settlement, which was announced on Thursday, Mr. Rose and his production company, Charlie Rose Inc., will pay back wages to a potential class of 189 interns. The settlement calls for many of the interns to receive about $1,100 each — $110 a week in back pay, up to a maximum of 10 weeks, the approximate length of a school semester.
The main plaintiff, Lucy Bickerton, said she was not paid when she worked 25 hours a week for the “Charlie Rose” show from June through August 2007. Ms. Bickerton said her responsibilities at the show, which appears on PBS stations, included providing background research for Mr. Rose about interview guests, putting together press packets, escorting guests through the studio and cleaning up the green room.
Ms. Bickerton said in an interview that the settlement was “a really important moment for this movement against unpaid internships.”
This is the first settlement in a series of lawsuits brought by unpaid interns who asserted that they had suffered minimum-wage violations. Other such lawsuits have been filed against the Hearst Corporation and Fox Entertainment. Both companies deny that they failed to comply with wage and hour laws regarding their interns.
Workplace experts say hundreds of thousands of young Americans work as unpaid interns each year as they seek to gain experience in desired industries. But some interns and labor advocates assert that many employers are violating federal and state laws by using unpaid interns essentially to do the jobs of other workers and by not providing a true educational experience.
This settlement agreement states that Mr. Rose and his production company “do not admit any liability or wrongdoing” and that they agreed “solely for the purpose of avoiding the costs and disruption of ongoing litigation and to settle all claims.”
A statement issued on behalf of Mr. Rose and his production company said, “our interns are not employees; they did not perform ‘work’ for the program and none of them ever expected to be paid for their internship.”
Rachel Bien, a lawyer for Ms. Bickerton, said, “We are very pleased with this settlement, and hope that many former interns will come forward to claim the amounts they are due for their work.” The settlement also calls for $50,000 in fees for Ms. Bickerton’s lawyers.
The agreement covers interns who worked for the Rose show between March 14, 2006, and Oct. 1, 2012. Under the agreement, individual interns will need to file a claim to be part of the settlement.
The $110-a-week settlement payment is based on an average internship day of six hours and an average internship week of 2.5 days. The 10-week maximum will not apply to those who interned for the show for more than one semester.
Ms. Bickerton’s lawsuit was brought under New York State law, which allows plaintiffs to seek back wages going back six years, and not under federal law, which sets a three-year limit.
The lawsuit noted that unpaid internships have proliferated among many white-collar professions, including film, journalism, fashion and book publishing. As more interns have complained and the Labor Department has threatened taking action, some companies have changed their compensation policy. Fox Entertainment started paying its interns in July 2010 — most were unpaid before that — and Condé Nast adopted a policy of giving its interns a $550 stipend per semester.
Article source: http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/20/charlie-rose-show-agrees-to-pay-up-to-250000-to-settle-interns-lawsuit/?partner=rss&emc=rss
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