This is very good news.
On Tuesday, federal judge William Pauley issued a ruling that is very favorable to the suing interns.
Regarding Footman and Glatt, the judge grants summary judgment to them that Searchlight was their “employer” as that term is defined in the Fair Standards Labor Act and New York Labor Laws.Fox attempted to convince Judge Pauley that the production companies — like Lake of Tiers Inc instead of Searchlight — were responsible for hiring and controlling the interns, but the judge doesn’t buy it. Judge Pauley writes that “Searchlight’s power to fire Black Swan production staff was unbridled,” that “Searchlight closely supervised work on Black Swan,” that “the crew of Black Swan was tied to Searchlight, not Lake of Tears,” and so forth.
The judge also looks at whether the internship program qualified as a bona fide training program under the Labor Department’s six criteria for determining whether an internship may be unpaid. These factors include whether the internship is similar to training that would be given in an educational environment, whether it is for the benefit of the intern, whether the intern displaces regular employees, whether the employer derives immediate advantage, whether intern isn’t necessarily entitled to a job after the conclusion of the internship and the understanding about no entitlement to wages.
