Class Action Lawsuits: In Vogue? High Fashion Gets Hit With Wage And Hour Class Action Lawsuits Over Unpaid Internship Programs

Sportswear-inspired designs, bold prints, and gingham aren't the only things trending for Spring 2015 in the fashion world. Judging from a recent wave of lawsuits, wage and hour class actions are trending as well. Over the past few years, class action lawsuits over unpaid internships have been on the rise, with this most recent wave of filed lawsuits serving as a powerful reminder to employers that intern programs can't simply be viewed as a way to recruit free labor.

Although the underlying factual allegations vary, the general premise of unpaid intern lawsuits are similar: under the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA"), an employer must pay all "employees" the minimum wage, a broad definition the FLSA describes as anyone who "suffer[s] or [who is] permit[ted] to work." The only exception to this rule is if the worker works for his or her "own advantage on the premise of another," a clarification set forth in Walling v. Portland Terminal Co., 330 U.S. 148 (1947) and a definition relied upon in similar internship litigation. Of course, depending on the location of where the lawsuit is filed, different states' minimum wage and overtime laws may be implicated as well. For example, several of the lawsuits listed below allege violations of New York wage and hour laws.

"Working for one's own advantage" would likely constitute some sort of educational experience or opportunity to gain practical knowledge and skills in a chosen field; both are prime motivations of college students nationwide who sign up for internship programs to bolster their resumes and further their ultimate career goals. Problems arise, however, when unpaid interns perform work for the benefit of the employer, do not receive training, and aren't adequately compensated. 2015 has brought the following lawsuits so far:

Lacoste: Lacoste parent company Devanlay US Inc. was sued by former unpaid intern Allam Qayyem, who interned from September 2012 through December 2012. Qayyem alleges he performed the following tasks without pay: researching tax records, scanning and filing documents, preparing spreadsheets and running errands, for approximately 20-25 hours a week total. Qayyem further alleges he did not receive academic or vocational training. House of Z: Zac Posen's House of Z was hit with a class action lawsuit by former intern Kevin Shahroozi. Shahroozi worked from March 2013 to July 2013 and was tasked with the following: sketching, cutting patterns, organizing fabrics, sewing...