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Unpaid Black Swan Interns File Class Action Lawsuit
By Kimberly Mirando
UPDATE 6/18/19: A federal judge certified the Black Swan Intern Class Action Lawsuit, allowing it to move forward.
A class action lawsuit filed by two former interns who say they were not paid for working on the movie Black Swan has been the target of ridicule by many bloggers and news sites, who say the whole point of being an intern is that you are not paid. What everyone is missing, however, is that it is illegal to not pay interns if they are not receiving college credit for their free labor.
The interns allege in the Black Swan class action lawsuit that Fox Searchlight Pictures violates labor law “by employing a steady stream of unpaid interns” who are not doing the work for college credit.
“Unpaid interns are becoming the modern-day equivalent of entry-level employees, except that employers are not paying them for the many hours they work,” the Black Swan intern class action lawsuit states. “This practice runs afoul of basic wage-and-hour laws, which require that employers pay all of their employees — even those desperate for the work — the minimum wage, as well as overtime for hours over 40 in a workweek.”
The class action lawsuit alleges Fox Searchlight used more than 100 unpaid interns on the movie, in violation of minimum wage and overtime laws. It says the Fair Labor Standards Act contains no exemptions for interns, unless they are participating in a vocational or academic training program.
“In misclassifying many of its workers as unpaid interns, Fox Searchlight has denied them the benefits that the law affords its employees, including unemployment and workers’ compensation insurance, sexual harassment and discrimination protections, and, most crucially, the right to earn a fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work,” the class action lawsuit continues.
The Black Swan intern class action lawsuit is seeking damages for unpaid wages due on Fox Searchlight films from September 2005 until final judgment, as well as an injunction barring Fox Searchlight from using unpaid interns on its film productions.
Updated June 18th, 2013
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