Employer Agreement

Our staff is pleased to collaborate with organizations seeking to provide true internship/training opportunities for LMU undergraduate and graduate students. With the support of our internship staff, organizations may seek assistance in:

• Listing Internship opportunities
• Establishing an Internship program
• Evaluating an existing Internship program
• Effectively supervising a current LMU intern

A key factor in assisting students in preparing for and pursuing careers is the opportunity for students to discover career alternatives and test classroom theory through experiential learning. Acting as the liaison between interns, faculty, and internship sites, our staff assists students to take advantage of quality internship experiences.

Loyola Marymount University Employer Agreement and Responsibilities

It is the responsibility of the employer to provide a safe and supervised workplace environment with expertise free of harassment and discrimination as well as the following:

1. Adhere to the guidelines for internships as outlined in the Federal Labor and Standards Act of 1938.
2. Develop relevant learning objectives aligned with the intern’s academic major, professional interest or passion, and that are congruence with LMU’s mission and goals.
3. Notify LMU in a timely manner of hiring, termination and or issues that may arise out of the placement.
4. Complete a constructive evaluation critiquing the intern’s performance.
5. Orienting the student intern to the company's structure and operations.
6. Orienting the student intern to the company's policies and procedures regarding appropriate dress, office hours, and applicable leave policies.
7. Introducing the student intern to the appropriate professional and clerical staff.
8. Providing the student intern with adequate resources necessary to accomplish job objectives.
9. Orienting the student intern to the policies and procedures of the personnel department.
10. Affording the student intern the opportunity to identify with the supervisor as a professional staff person by jointly participating in office interviews, meetings, conferences, projects, and other personnel and management functions.
11. Assigning and supervising the completion of tasks and responsibilities that are consistent with the student intern's role and agreed learning objectives in the company.
12. Consulting the university’s internship staff in the event that the supervisor becomes aware of personal, communication or other problems that are disrupting the student intern's learning and performance.
13. Providing regularly scheduled supervisory conferences with the student intern.
14. Participating in the joint and individual conferences with the student intern and faculty coordinator regarding the student intern's performance.
15. Submitting a job description for the student intern within 10 working days from the start of the internship.
16. Make available the site and staff for visitation by the university’s internship staff.

Federal Guidelines for an Unpaid Internship

Courts have used the “primary beneficiary test” to determine whether an intern or student is, in fact, an employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act. In short, this test allows courts to examine the “economic reality” of the intern-employer relationship to determine which party is the “primary beneficiary” of the relationship. Courts have identified the following seven factors as part of the test: 

• The extent to which the intern and the employer clearly understand that there is no expectation of compensation. Any promise of compensation, express or implied, suggests that the intern is an employee—and vice versa.
• The extent to which the internship provides training that would be similar to that which would be given in an educational environment, including the clinical and other hands-on training provided by educational institutions.
• The extent to which the internship is tied to the intern’s formal education program by integrated coursework or the receipt of academic credit.
• The extent to which the internship accommodates the intern’s academic commitments by corresponding to the academic calendar.
• The extent to which the internship’s duration is limited to the period in which the internship provides the intern with beneficial learning.
• The extent to which the intern’s work complements, rather than displaces, the work of paid employees while providing significant educational benefits to the intern.
• The extent to which the intern and the employer understand that the internship is conducted without entitlement to a paid job at the conclusion of the internship.

For students and employers, the internship is a win-win situation. Through their internship experience, students are able to gain valuable professional experience, to establish contacts with prospective employers and evaluate career related opportunities first hand. The organization, in turn, benefits from the contributions and fresh ideas of energetic and competent students.