LRD guides and handbook May 2018

Law at Work 2018

Chapter 4

Who is eligible for the National Minimum Wage



[ch 4: page 89]

All workers, including agency workers, homeworkers, casual workers, zero hours contract workers, trainee workers, agricultural workers, part-time workers, commission-based workers, migrant workers and seafarers working in UK waters are entitled to the National Minimum Wage (NMW). Anyone legally obliged to do work for another person is entitled to the NMW, except for a small number of excluded groups listed on page 90. 
 


Some interns will qualify for the NMW. This depends on whether they are “workers”. For more information, see page 34.



In November 2009, a tribunal decided that Nicola Vetta, who had agreed to work as an intern for a London production company, London Dreams Motion Pictures Limited, for expenses only, was entitled to the NMW. She was backed by broadcast, entertainment and cinema trade union BECTU (now a division of Prospect) and she recovered almost £2,000 in unpaid wages.




Vetta v London Dreams Motion Pictures Limited 2009, unreported




In 2011, unpaid intern Keri Hudson, supported by the National Union of Journalists, won a claim for the NMW against TPG Web Publishing Limited. The tribunal looked at the work she had to do and decided she was a worker even though she had no written contract of employment. 




Hudson v TPG Web Publishing Limited 2011, unreported




The TUC has an advice and campaigning website at: www.rightsforinterns.org.uk.