What are unpaid interns? Unpaid interns, as the name suggests, are workers who carry out their work for free. As the Employment Standards Act (ESA), will often necessitate that employers pay their employees at least a minimum wage, unpaid internships are unlawful; unless the worker is either not an employee or an employee that is covered by the minimum wage.
For example, in Ontario, a student who carries out work for a company as part of a course curriculum or experiential learning will often be excluded from ESA. Ontario ESA also has a number of exceptions of types of workers that are not to be considered as employees.
David J Doorey, “The Law of Work: Common Law and the Regulation of Work,” 22-3.
Under Part III of the Employment Standards Act, section 5
Other exceptions
(5) This Act does not apply with respect to the following individuals and any person for whom such an individual performs work or from whom such an individual receives compensation:
1. A secondary school student who performs work under a work experience program authorized by the school board that operates the school in which the student is enrolled.
2. An individual who performs work under a program approved by a college of applied arts and technology or a university.
3. An individual who performs work under a program that is approved by a private career college registered under the Private Career Colleges Act, 2005 and that meets such criteria as may be prescribed.
4. A participant in community participation under the Ontario Works Act, 1997.
5. An individual who is an inmate of a correctional institution within the meaning of the Ministry of Correctional Services Act, is an inmate of a penitentiary or is being held in a place of temporary detention or youth custody facility under the Youth Criminal Justice Act (Canada), if the individual participates inside or outside the institution, penitentiary or place in a work project or rehabilitation program.
6. An individual who performs work under an order or sentence of a court or as part of an extrajudicial measure under the Youth Criminal Justice Act (Canada).
7. An individual who performs work in a simulated job or working environment if the primary purpose in placing the individual in the job or environment is his or her rehabilitation.
Employment Standards Act, 2000, S.O. 2000, c. 41, part III, s 5.
The Queen’s Film & TV Research Group are not lawyers, and this is not legal advice! For more information on labour and employment law, please see the Labour & Employment Law section of this site. Find out more about Queen’s Law on their website, and Pro Bono Queen’s at the PBSC Queen’s site.