LeBron James is hunting for interns.
The basketball star is pretty particular: college students (and yes, you must still be in school) residing in Ohio (that’s where he grew up), South Florida’ (he plays for the Miami Heat) or New York, fluent in Spanish with journalism, marketing or communications experience and with a strong knowledge of basketball and technology trends. Oh, and be available at least 10 hours a week through the spring, summer and fall semesters.
What there is no mention of is pay.
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The Department of Labor, which is cracking down on unpaid internships, has six criteria that it says must all be met if an internship can be unpaid. Among them: the employer derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the intern.
Some companies do meet those criteria, says Justin Swartz, a partner at Outten & Golden, a New York law firm that only represents employees, including unpaid interns in other legal challenges. (In one, a class-action lawsuit against “The Charlie Rose Show” was settled with “substantial” payments to about 190 interns.
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But a look at the job posting for, LeBronJames.com suggests that is unlikely here, he said. Responsibilities such as “communicating and interacting with LeBron fans around the world” and maintaining basketball dossiers suggest James will be benefiting from the interns’ work, he noted.