Unpaid TV Interns Settle Large Class Action Against NBCUniversal

Last year, a federal judge in New York ruled that Fox Searchlight Pictures violated minimum wage laws by not paying interns that worked on the set of the movie “Black Swan.”  In holding that employers could not simply avail themselves of free labor by calling employees “interns,” this case opened the pathway for other intern cases against entertainment industry giants.

In the latest victory, a group of former interns reached a 6.4 million dollar settlement with NBCUniversal this week, representing the largest settlement yet in this new streak of cases.  While the original complaint involved New York interns, the case grew to include plaintiffs from other states.  This recent settlement makes clear that companies need to change the blanket exploitation of interns across industries and across the country, or pay the significant price that inevitably come with the growth of these cases.

For more information, see: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-nbc-interns-lawsuit-settlement-20141024-story.html