Senior Juliette Dallas-Feeney, a Hatchet columnist, discusses the often overlooked rights of unpaid interns.

Unfortunately, there’s sometimes a fine line between unpaid internships and slave labor. The U.S. Department of Labor has a list of criteria that must be met in order for an internship to be unpaid, including the following: “The employer that provides the training derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the trainees and on occasion the employer’s operations may actually be impeded.” In other words, the work I do at my internship cannot benefit the company or the way it runs its business in any way. According to these criteria, it’s essentially illegal for me to file papers, organize a co-worker’s calendar, or deliver mail.