Elizabeth Warren pays interns $0 per hour (Not even minimum wage)

◼ What happened to the other $22? - Le-gal In-sur-rec-tion

Elizabeth Warren has gained notoriety recently for complaining that the minimum wage would be $22 per hour if it kept up with worker productivity gains over the past several decades {...}

If the minimum wage was so important to Warren, we wondered what she paid her interns.

The abuse of interns by powerful corporations like The NY Times is well documented, and the subject of controversy by student and worker advocates who argue that such internships in the private sector may violate wage laws. Even if done in compliance with legal guidelines, unpaid internships take advantage of unequal bargaining power in a weak job market.

Warren actively is seeking interns for her Senate offices.

We checked today with Warren’s Senate office, and were told that “all internships are unpaid.” When asked whether they had any paid internships, the office responded “we do not.”

Warren is not alone. Unpaid internships in Congress are the norm and appear to be legal because that’s the way Congress wrote the law.

We also researched internships Warren’s Senate campaign offered. Warren’s campaign made very effective use of “internships” as a lure to get students to work on campuses and elsewhere for the campaign. The internships were both part and full time and were unpaid.

...These are just some facts to consider the next time Warren rips into some business person for not paying employees enough.