You are here

Center for Workforce Solutions

Minnesota employers and employees face critical questions every day: How to make sure that workers possess the necessary tools for jobs of the future? How to match those skills and find enough workers to meet the needs of businesses who want to stay and grow in Minnesota? 

The Minnesota Chamber Foundation’s Center for Workforce Solutions is a first-of-its-kind in Minnesota business-led initiative. Through leadership, collaboration and key partnerships, it offers research and programs to confront the state’s worker shortage and helps the state’s economy change and grow. 

Are Summer Interns Subject to Minimum Wage and Overtime Pay Laws?

While the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires for-profit employers to pay "employees" for their work, interns and students may not be employees under the FLSA. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and many courts use the "primary beneficiary" test to determine whether an intern or student is, in fact, an employee under the FLSA. This test examines the "economic reality" of the intern-employer relationship to determine which party is the "primary beneficiary" of the relationship. The following seven factors are included in the test:

Pages