Elite Model Management has agreed to pay a $450,000 settlement to a group of interns who worked for the company without pay. The pay-out is the largest awarded to unpaid interns to date, and will see more than 100 former interns receive a minimum compensation of $700 each.
The action began when a former Elite Models intern, Dajia Davenport, filed a $50 million lawsuit in February 2013 claiming that Elite "deliberately misclassifies its interns as exempt from wage requirements", despite asking them to work more than 40 hours a week. The two parties came to an agreement on Friday - although somewhat short of the initial $50 million sum - approving a settlement that covered the minimum wage for each for a four-week period.
The action began when a former Elite Models intern, Dajia Davenport, filed a $50 million lawsuit in February 2013 claiming that Elite "deliberately misclassifies its interns as exempt from wage requirements", despite asking them to work more than 40 hours a week. The two parties came to an agreement on Friday - although somewhat short of the initial $50 million sum - approving a settlement that covered the minimum wage for each for a four-week period.
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| Elite Models |
Elite Models currently manages the careers of Agyness Deyn, Hilary Rhoda, Karen Elson and Yasmin and Amber le Bon, among others, and has also represented supermodels from Tyra Banks and Gisele Bündchen to Christie Brinkley and Heidi Klum in the past.
The settlement is the latest development in the recurring debate about internship policies in the media industry, which has seen several companies in America cancel their internship programmes.
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