Additional Information

Liability Concerns:

Medical Insurance:  Students are responsible for obtaining their own medical insurance in order to enroll in classes at the University of Idaho.  UI’s Student Health Services has student medical insurance available; the student may be listed on their parents’ insurance; or the student can obtain insurance through a local vender.

Workers Compensation:  If a student is paid in an employment capacity, the student should be covered by the employer’s workers’ compensation policy.  If a student is unpaid or receives a stipend, it is highly advisable for an employer to obtain a rider to its existing workers’ compensation policy to cover the intern.

Wage Issues:

While some interns are willing to work with an employer on an unpaid basis in order to gain valuable career-building experience, the pool of interested students will likely be much larger and of higher quality if you provide financial compensation for the work performed by the intern.

Payment: To calculate a fair hourly wage for your intern, first identify the entry-level starting salary for a similar position at your organization, then multiply it by a percentage to determine the intern’s salary.  This percentage varies depending on the intern’s education level and experience, and is broken down as follows:

Seniors: 80-85% of entry-level salary
Juniors: 70-75% of entry-level salary
Sophomores: 60-75% of entry-level salary

Unpaid or Stipend Internships:  

According to the Fair Labor Standards Act and U.S. Dept. of Labor (DOL), if you wish to have an unpaid or stipend intern, your internship must meet these six factors:

1. The internship, even though it includes actual operation of the facilities of the employer, is similar to training which would be given in an educational environment;
2. The internship experience is for the benefit of the intern;
3. The intern does not displace regular employees, but works under close supervision of existing staff;
4. The employer that provides the training derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the intern; and on occasion its operations may actually be impeded; *
5. The intern is not necessarily entitled to a job at the conclusion of the internship; and
6. The employer and the intern understand that the intern is not entitled to wages for the time spent in the internship.

* The National Association of Colleges & Employers (NACE) agrees with five of the six FLSA criteria; this association disagreed with the criterion that the employer derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the student.  While the DOL standards are a matter of law, they were originally created for vocational training programs. In 2011, NACE recommended to the DOL that it reconsider and revise the FLSA criteria to ensure they “account for the incredible diversity of students, higher education institutions, and employing organizations involved in such programs.”  (See ‘Criteria for an Experience to Be Defined as an Internship’  in the Employer Internship Guide)

Additional Resources Available from the Career Center:

• Internship Forms (Learning Agreement & Performance Evaluation)
• List of Internship Coordinators in UI’s academic departments

For more information contact our Employer Relations Team:
Jessica Berwick, Manager for Employer Relations & Communications, (208) 885-2100
Noell Kinyon, Employer Relations Specialist, (208) 885-6122