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Regardless of the letter of the law, I don't see why anybody should be upset about this. Laws intended to keep people from taking unfair advantage of others who

by Zak 16y ago

Regardless of the letter of the law, I don't see why anybody should be upset about this. Laws intended to keep people from taking unfair advantage of others who willingly agree to the arrangement are often horribly broken in that they treat a variety of situations where all parties receive benefits which are satisfactory to them as exploitative.

gte910h 16y ago
It also discriminates towards people of means. If I had rich parents, I could afford to work there for nothing. As a person who paid for myself, I'd be unable to have done that at the start of my career
- hugh3 16y ago
  So? Children of rich parents have all sorts of opportunities which aren't open to children of poor parents. Tutors, private schools, painless grad school. Interning at reddit is hardly at the top of the list.
viraptor 16y ago
They have to treat them like that in many situations... If you're in a situation where you don't have much choice, the employer will say "testify that you're doing the work because you want to and get $1/h we give you, or you can go". It's hard to trust anyone who's already agreeing to do something not generally acceptable, because they gain something else from it. And for them the current situation is more important than the general justice. On the other hand, it's easier to say that a job which benefits the employer needs to be paid. There might be situations where it's not really needed, but it would be hard to find a situation where it hurts anyone. So why not enforce it?
- Zak 16y ago
  it would be hard to find a situation where it hurts anyone I beg to differ. I can think of a great many possible examples of situations where a startup or small business would benefit from having an intern, and have a lot more to teach an intern than a big company would. Small businesses and startups often have very limited funds.
  - viraptor 16y ago
    Income share, low pay contract work, commission, ... There are so may ways to pay people and not pay a lot if you don't have an income yourself. But then again - you say would benefit from having an intern - that means s/he has influence over potential future income. If you have no money or other employees and the intern is supposed to create the company from scratch - there's a different position for that. If you already have other employees... limited funds or not - you either need that person or you don't. If they do enough work that it will benefit you financially, take a loan and pay them. If they're not useful at this stage - why take them at all?

by Zak 16y ago

gte910h 16y ago

It also discriminates towards people of means. If I had rich parents, I could afford to work there for nothing. As a person who paid for myself, I'd be unable to have done that at the start of my career

hugh3 16y ago
So? Children of rich parents have all sorts of opportunities which aren't open to children of poor parents. Tutors, private schools, painless grad school. Interning at reddit is hardly at the top of the list.

viraptor 16y ago

They have to treat them like that in many situations... If you're in a situation where you don't have much choice, the employer will say "testify that you're doing the work because you want to and get $1/h we give you, or you can go". It's hard to trust anyone who's already agreeing to do something not generally acceptable, because they gain something else from it. And for them the current situation is more important than the general justice. On the other hand, it's easier to say that a job which benefits the employer needs to be paid. There might be situations where it's not really needed, but it would be hard to find a situation where it hurts anyone. So why not enforce it?

Zak 16y ago
it would be hard to find a situation where it hurts anyone I beg to differ. I can think of a great many possible examples of situations where a startup or small business would benefit from having an intern, and have a lot more to teach an intern than a big company would. Small businesses and startups often have very limited funds.
- viraptor 16y ago
  Income share, low pay contract work, commission, ... There are so may ways to pay people and not pay a lot if you don't have an income yourself. But then again - you say would benefit from having an intern - that means s/he has influence over potential future income. If you have no money or other employees and the intern is supposed to create the company from scratch - there's a different position for that. If you already have other employees... limited funds or not - you either need that person or you don't. If they do enough work that it will benefit you financially, take a loan and pay them. If they're not useful at this stage - why take them at all?