作者：Eric Boosman

免费实习生？我们应该把握住！

作为一家独立游戏开发工作室，我们很开心能够接收到各种帮助。我们迎来了许多热心的志愿者愿意将时间和技能贡献于我们的工作中，并以此换取他们在游戏领域的经验和信誉。我们将这些人称为实习生，并让他们能够在此尽情地贡献自己的力量。

interns(from businessinsider.com)

但是我却发现这是一种不合法的理念。

为了确保Dark Tonic（游戏邦注：独立游戏开发工作室）能够合法拥有实习生，我阅读了一些有关实习生的条例。我的法律文件中并未包含这一协议，所以我便只能上网搜索。最终我在《纽约时报》上找到了这篇文章：http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/03/business/03intern.html?pagewanted=all

我瞬间震惊了。在我的印象中实习生只是一些免费的劳工，是为了获得更多有价值的经验的志愿者，但是事实却证明这些想法都是错误的。

Charlie Sheen intern tweet(from gamasutra)

以下是关于实习生的一些联邦法律指南：http://wdr.doleta.gov/directives/attach/TEGL/TEGL12-09acc.pdf

从该文件中我们可以明确6点用于定义合法实习生的标准：

1.培训，尽管这包含了实际操作雇主所拥有的各种设备，但是却与职业学校或学术教育指示中所教授的内容没有多大差别；

2.培训是实习生所享有的福利；

3.实习生不能取代正式员工，但是却能在他们的监视下工作；

4.尽管雇主必须提供相应的培训，但是他们却不能从实习生身上获得直接的回报，有时候雇主的业务操作还会受到一定的阻碍；

5.在培训结束后实习生不一定能够获得这份工作；

6.雇主和实习生都清楚在培训期间实习生并不享有获得工资的权利。

internswanted（from gamasutra）

如果公司未能履行这6大标准，实习生便能合法享有正式员工的身份，获得最低工资并受到所有相关雇员法律的保护。

对于营利性公司来说，“志愿者”也不是一个合法的概念。而道理其实是相同的。

我们该做些什么？

对于营利性公司来说我们能够接收免费工作的合法方法只有2种：

1.遵守上述6大标准。在这种情况下，公司必须花费一定的时间去培训实习生，同时实习生也必须以工作去回报公司（而这便不再属于免费劳作了）。

2.让实习生扮演独立承包人的角色，并在合同上特别规定他们不会或只能获得有限的报酬。采取这一方法的关键便在于独立承包人必须按照公司在合同上的要求采取最佳方法去达到相应结果，但是公司却不会告诉承包人他们应该做什么或者应该使用什么工具等。因为如果公司这么做了，实习生将再次变成正式雇员的身份。

承包人与雇员之间的界线非常明确。以下是相关法律条款：http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Employed/Independent-Contractor-(Self-Employed)-or-Employee%3F

基于该页面我们可以明确雇员vs.承包人之间所存在的一些问题：

普通法规

关于控制程度与独立性主要可以划分为3大类别：

1.行为：公司是否有权控制员工该做些什么以及他们该如何执行自己的工作？

2.财务：员工工作的业务内容是否受到雇主的控制？（即包括员工的薪酬，费用报销，由谁提供工具/物资等。）

3.关系类型：是否签订了书面合同或与雇员相应的福利（如公积金，保险，假日工资等）？这种合作关系是否会持续下去并且实习生的工作是否是作为公司业务的重要组成部分？

基本上来看承包人是独立的，并能够自己决定如何完成各项工作。

如果你是一名未能获得薪酬的实习生，并且你的雇主未能履行上述6大标准，那么恭喜你，你将自动变成该公司中理应获得报酬的正式员工！

如果你们公司有意向聘请实习生，那么请务必好好了解相应条款。

（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

6 ways interns will destroy your game company

by Eric Boosman

Free interns?  We’ll take ‘em!

As a bootstrapping indie studio, we are happy to have all the help we can get.  We’ve had several enthusiastic volunteers eager to lend their time and skills to us in exchange for the experience and credit in our games.  I figured we could just bring them on as interns and let them contribute to whatever extent they could and wanted to.

That idea, I’ve come to find out, is 100% illegal.

Wanting to make sure Dark Tonic would be legal owners of any work potential interns did on the studio’s behalf, before bringing them on, I looked for an intern agreement that covered this.  My all-in-one suite of legal docs did not contain such an agreement, so I went looking online.  That’s when I came across this article from the New York Times:  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/03/business/03intern.html?pagewanted=all

I was shocked.  My impression had always been that interns were essentially free labor, volunteering in order to get some valuable experience, which is just completely incorrect.

These are the actual federal legal guidelines for interns:  http://wdr.doleta.gov/directives/attach/TEGL/TEGL12-09acc.pdf

From that doc, the 6 main criteria that define a legal internship are:

1.The training, even though it includes actual operation of the facilities of the employer, is similar to what would be given in a vocational school or academic educational instruction;

2.The training is for the benefit of the trainees;

3.The trainees do not displace regular employees, but work under their close observation;

4.The employer that provides the training derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the trainees, and on occasion the employer’s operations may actually be impeded;

5.The trainees are not necessarily entitled to a job at the conclusion of the training period; and

6.The employer and the trainees understand that the trainees are not entitled to wages for the time spent in training.

If these 6 criteria are not fulfilled, the “intern” will be legally acting as an employee, and entitled to minimum wage, and all other employee laws.

There is also not a legal concept of a “volunteer” for a for-profit company.  That falls under the same rules.

What can you do?

The only 2 legit ways I’ve found to receive free work as a for-profit company are either:

1.An internship that meets all 6 criteria above.  In this case, the company is spending close to the amount of time training the intern as the intern’s work benefits the company (so it is not actually free work).

2.Have them work as independent contractors, and agree to limited/no compensation as specifically described in a contract.

The catch here is that as an independent contractor, they must determine the best way to achieve the results the company requests in the contract, but the company cannot tell the contractor specifically how something should be done, what tools to use, etc.

If the company does that, the contractor’s status may automatically revert to that of an employee.

That line between contractor and employee is also fairly fine.  Here are the laws concerning them: http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Employed/Independent-Contractor-(Self-Employed)-or-Employee%3F

From that page, these are the questions that define an employee vs. a contractor:

Common Law Rules

Facts that provide evidence of the degree of control and independence fall into three categories:

1.Behavioral: Does the company control or have the right to control what the worker does and how the worker does his or her job?

2.Financial: Are the business aspects of the worker’s job controlled by the payer? (these include things like how worker is paid, whether expenses are reimbursed, who provides tools/supplies, etc.)

3.Type of Relationship: Are there written contracts or employee type benefits (i.e. pension plan, insurance, vacation pay, etc.)? Will the relationship continue and is the work performed a key aspect of the business?

Basically, a contractor is independent and makes full choices about how to achieve work results.

If you’re an unpaid intern, and your host company isn’t fulfilling those 6 criteria above, congratulations!  You volunteered yourself into a paying job!

If your company has or is considering bringing on an intern, educate yourself.(source:GAMASUTRA)