There are more tears than laughs at Saturday Night Live these days. NBC Universal paid $6.4 million to settle a claim by interns who worked on a variety of shows, including SNL. This follows a $110,000 settlement from the producers of the Charlie Rose Show, which also compensated interns for the work they performed.
In the current job market for college students and new graduates, employers often use the economy as an opportunity to get free work. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is clear that most unpaid internships are flat out illegal. If an employer gets the benefit of work from an employee, then the employee probably has to be paid.