Condé Nast Publications, a magazine publisher that is responsible for 25 magazines including the likes of Vogue, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, GQ and many more, is to end its internship programme as of 2014. This decision comes after a series of lawsuits that were directed at the company from previous interns claiming that they were underpaid and that the publishers had violated the labour laws by giving them a salary that was below the legal minimum wage. Matthew Lieb, a former intern at The New Yorker, claimed that he was paid just $300-$500 for the two summers that he worked at the magazine. Similarly, Lauren Ballinger has spoken out saying that she was paid just $12 a day for shifts that could run beyond 12 hours whilst interning at W Magazine.
Justin Swartz, a partner at Outten and Golden, the law firm representing the Condé Nast interns, said that the company’s decision to stop internships ‘seems to demonstrate the flimsy committment that Condé Nast has to students and education’. Their decision to end the internship programme also raises the questions of who will take on the roles that were previously deligated to the interns, such as proof reading and reviewing articles and running errands.
At this point Condé Nast have declined to comment on their decision.
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