Unpaid interns are overexploited and under-protected.

Although the future of unpaid internships in the United States is imprecise, it is certain that unpaid interns are not protected from sexual harassment under the Civil Rights Act.

With all the controversies surrounding unpaid internships, the most troubling is the fact that vulnerable young adults can be subject to sexual harassment without any compensation by the company in which it occurred.

Last month a New York federal district court ruled that Lihuan Wang, an intern in the New York bureau of Phoenix Satellite Television, was not able to bring a sexual harassment claim because she was not paid, according to CNN.

According to the lawsuit, bureau chief Zhengzhu Liu insisted that Wang stayed after a lunch with coworkers so they could discuss her job performance. Wang was eager to discuss possibilities so she returned back to Liu’s hotel room to “drop off his things.” Upon arrival at his hotel, Liu was no longer interested in discussing her internship. Instead, Liu made sexual advances toward Wang. After Wang denied his actions as well as a trip to Atlantic City, Liu no longer expressed interest in hiring Wang full time.

This was not an isolated event. The lawsuit states that Liu “preyed” on the most vulnerable employees who were looking to “advance at Phoenix as interns.” The lawsuit also stated that Liu would pressure young women to sleep with him, and if his desire was not reciprocated, he “retaliated against them, unfairly criticizing them, subjecting them to harsh work conditions, threatening to fire them,” according to the lawsuit.

New York Judge Kevin Castel ruled Wang was not able to sue the company because she did not have the status of real employee, according to USA Today.

 It would be ignorant to think Liu is the only person who knows his power over unpaid interns.

Wang’s case is just a recent example of the dangers that hopeful yet vulnerable young adults are stepping into when they are hired as unpaid interns. A similar case involved Bridget O’Connor, an unpaid intern for the Rockland Psychiatric Center. According to the lawsuit, Dr. James Davis, a psychiatrist referred to O’Connor as “Miss Sexual Harassment,” which was supposedly a compliment. Additionally, Davis suggested that O’Connor and other women participate in an orgy. Davis also asked O’Connor to remove her clothing in preparation for a meeting because that is what patients do when visiting a doctor.

O’Connor sued Rockland, claiming she was sexually harassed in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. However, since O’Connor received no compensation for her work, the district court dismissed the case. By classifying O’Connor as a “volunteer,” the court decided that unpaid interns are not employees under Title VII.

In “Adapting Title VII to Modern Employment Realities: The Case for the Unpaid Intern,” New York lawyer Craig J. Ortner argued the meaning of ‘employee.’ Ortner said, “Title VII’s language does not indicate that the statute was intended to cover only salaried employees.”

For college students, internships are essential to future careers. It’s hard to get experience without experience. To be eligible for an unpaid position, “The internship experience is for the benefit of the intern,” according to the U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division. Employers are very aware of the high demand for experience, which is why interns are so easily exploitable.

Internships are beneficial to both the employer and the intern’s future careers. Even if not in monetary form, unpaid interns are paid with experience. While people who are sexually harassed in general can file criminal charges against the perpetrator, unpaid interns should be able to sue the company for damages it may have caused.

-Alyssa Reynolds is a senior communication major from Ferndale. She can be contacted at 335-2290 or by [email protected]. The opinions expressed in this Column are not necessarily those of the staff of The Daily Evergreen or those of Student Publications.