How would you like a free butler, maid, chef and chauffeur? Try that and the Department of Labor will sue you for violating the minimum wage, overtime and record-keeping requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act — unless you are Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
That’s right. Since 2010, she has hired unpaid interns as her servants. No other justice does this.
Justice Sotomayor’s job description, posted on a Latino Facebook page and other places, tells us that applicants do not need a law degree, but “a driver’s license is a must” because the intern’s duties will include running “errands outside of the Courthouse.” The intern will prepare “lunch and snacks for the Justice,” photocopy, and answer the phone. The intern is responsible for his own living arrangements and transportation. She pays them nothing.
Whether Sonia Sotomayor is abusing her position as a justice by leveraging that appointment to secure free butlers is an important question of judicial ethics. A more prosaic question is whether she is violating U.S. labor laws, including the requirements of a minimum wage. It turns out that the answer is yes.
More here
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Making use of free internships is a common practice in many professions. It's not unusual to have to do menial tasks (everyone has to start somewhere, right?) but it's unfair to not pay interns for their services; at the very least provide a stipend and room and board. Here's hoping this case raises awareness.
ReplyDeleteTwo sets of laws.
ReplyDeleteAnd she is one of the people who should absolutely know the law..
Ignores it anyway. Why?
Two sets of laws.
Keep cheering.
Another P.O.S. appointed by Odumba.
ReplyDeleteShe should have recused herself on the Gay marriage decision but she didn't.
Before she was a justice she worked for the gay lobby