A group of 3,000 former Warner Music Group interns have been approved to file a class action lawsuit against the recording label giant, according to Complex. The news comes a week after a New York federal judge approved a lawsuit that claimed WMG violated minimum wage and overtime requirements as well as other Fair Labor Standard Act regulations.
Former intern, Kyle Grant, originally filed in June of 2013. Digital Music News reports that if the former interns win their suit, WMG could be forced to into a multimillion dollar back pay payout and a change to its policies regarding internships. The results could forever alter the music industry.
In Grant’s suit, he claimed that “during the plaintiff’s term of employment, his duties primarily consisted of answering telephones, making photocopies, making deliveries, creating lists, preparing coffee, getting lunch for paid employees, running personal errands for paid employees, and other similar duties.”
A former Bad Boy Entertainment intern, Rashida Salaam, sued that company in 2013 for unpaid work spanning a period of five months.
Also last year, it was ruled in New York that Fox Studios should have compensated two production interns who worked on the 2010 film Black Swan. The decision was granted based on a Fair Labor Standards requirement that interns should not “displace regular employees.” It was determined that internship duties should be “educational” and interns should be paid if the company they are working for stands to benefit from their work.
