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CBS faces another lawsuit from a former intern

CBS is facing yet another lawsuit from a disgruntled former intern.


Anyone who has been an intern will have fond memories of working for nothing and hoping that you just don’t screw up. Though I myself was lucky enough to have had some pretty cool experiences interning for a few places, others aren’t so fortunate. Ask anyone who has ever interned and they’ll probably spin you some yarns about getting coffee and working full time for college credit.

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Though the trend of treating your interns like dirt isn’t a new one, the recent surge of former interns fighting back is. CBS can tell you a thing or two about that.

Not even half a year has gone by since CBS was served with a class action lawsuit by a former Late Late Show intern, and the broadcasting company is already girding themselves for another one. Ex-intern Camille Demere has recently filed for a complaint against the broadcasting giant.

According to the filing:

"“CBS has employed individuals in the State of New York to perform work on its behalf and has improperly classified them as ‘interns’ without providing proper minimum wage compensation.”"

Demere’s case is based on the fact that during her time interning for CBS she had to do the work of a full-time employee and was not compensated in the slightest (unless you count doing the leg work of a broadcasting company compensation).

This recent surge of interns speaking out all seemed to start in 2011 during the infamous Black Swan lawsuit, in which an intern working for the movie sued the production company for reasons not unlike Demere’s. Many of the suits have been settled for millions while some are still up in court to this day.

Demere seems to have a rock steady case though, with specific details of the work she did to back up her claims. From her filing,

"Beginning in approximately December 2009 and continuing through August 2010, CBS employed the Named Plaintiff to perform various tasks, including, but not limited to, managing the company’s website, writing stories to be published on the website and taking pictures for galleries and to supplement stories, cutting and editing full length radio features into shorter clips, creating original content to include in online posts, and moderating and troubleshooting the website."

It goes on to allege that she worked five days a week for a total of 40 hours a week. That’s full-time work for intern level benefits (which are none). As a former intern, and speaking for interns everywhere, I hope Demere gets her justice (or at least someone to get her a cup of coffee).

[H/T: Deadline]

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