Q: I am a special edu teacher. I'll be taking students to businesses as volunteers for work experience. Business concerns?
Sdd
A:
Contact the New York State Department of Labor. The attorneys may also be concerned about lawsuits for minimum wage and/or overtime violations. Interns are supposed to learn skills or trades. Not simply provide free labor to save the business money and possibly deny a willing applicant a paid position.
Many businesses today barely have time to provide training to paid employees. You need to seek businesses who can actually provide meaningful, possibly transferable, skills in addition to doing what some might call work with little purpose or meaning. Call the DOL and possibly have them provide you with an opinion letter which you can take to the business stating that the work will actually be that of a true intern for an identifiable job or job class.
You might consider any particular interests or skills that individualized students might have and tailor internships based on skills already acquired, which the business can build on. Someone who can draw or likes to draw might be excellent at a design or art business as one example. Examine each student individually which will be lots of work I am sure. Good luck.
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