Interns

Whether or not interns are protected from discrimination will depend on whether they are workers under a contract to perform work personally (see Interns: Chapter 2).

However, some interns may also be protected on the basis that they are receiving “practical work experience”. Article 3(1)(b) of the European Framework Directive bans discrimination by public and private sector employers in “access to all types and to all levels of vocational guidance, vocational training, advanced vocational training and retraining, including practical work experience”.

Unions maintain that it is unacceptable that interns have such limited protection under the EA 10, especially given the power imbalance between an intern and an employer, and the opportunities for exploitation that this creates.