Employer Information

The Work Experience Education (WEE) program helps students achieve their educational and career goals through internships. This is a unique experience for students because it provides an opportunity to combine classroom education with mentored work experience.

Benefits for Employers:

Create and maintain a relationship with West Los Angeles College.
Close the gap between classroom experience and job skills by providing real work experience.
Improves employer/employee communication through objective evaluation.
Results in improved employee job skills and productivity.
Assists with the development of employer/employee goals through learning objectives.
Enhances employee motivation, thus reducing training costs.
Select from a pool of advanced students to assist in current projects and assignments.
Cost-effective program for recruiting potential hires and reducing turnover.
Opportunity to provide feedback to faculty on necessary skills for the industry to update curriculum.

Information for Current Employers

Employers are a crucial part of the three-way relationship established by the Work Experience Education Program. As a current employer, you are expected to participate in the following ways throughout the semester. You can scroll down to the bottom of the page to access all forms.

At the beginning of the semester:

Work with employee to create 3 objectives that they will work on over the course of the semester.
Review and approve employee's program application.

During the semester:

Submit the Employer Midterm Evaluation which consists of a few yes or no questions regarding the employee's performance.

At the end of the semester:

Sign employee's Timesheet Summary Statement to verify the hours that they worked on during the semester.
Submit the Employer End of Term Evaluation.
Consider providing a letter of recommendation if appropriate.

How to Participate:

Identify any needs, special projects, and/or challenges that interns could be assigned
Select a mentor who has the skills, knowledge, and abilities in the area associated with the task the intern will perform. The mentor should be approachable, allow the intern to ask questions and foster professional growth.
Submit the Employer Intern Request Form to identify your needs and the desired qualifications you would like in a candidate.
Allow six to eight weeks for our office staff to recruit.
Interview potential candidates and notify the WEE office of candidate that is selected.
Approve the Workplace Learning Objectives Agreement that will be sent by email via the College Central Network.
Complete the items listed under Information for Current Employers

Unpaid vs Paid Interns

Before posting an unpaid internship, make sure your company is positioned to follow the Fair Labor Standard Act (FLSA) and to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) criteria and obligations for hiring an unpaid intern.

Unless the internship experience passes the seven labor law rules*, the employer must pay interns at least the minimum wage.
Make sure unpaid interns aren't replacing the void left from laid-off employees and don't hinder opportunities for prospective employees. The federal Fair Labor Standards Act bans both practices.
Unpaid interns are protected by discrimination and harassment laws.

According to the Fair Labor Standards Act, the following test applies to Unpaid Interns and Students:

Courts have used the primary beneficiary test to determine whether an intern or student is, in fact, an employee under the FLSA.2 In short, this test allows courts to examine the economic reality of the intern-employer relationship to determine which party is the primary beneficiary of the relationship. Courts have identified the following seven factors as part of the test:

The extent to which the intern and the employer clearly understand that there is no expectation of compensation. Any promise of compensation, express or implied, suggests that the intern is an employee and vice versa.
The extent to which the internship provides training that would be similar to that which would be given in an educational environment, including the clinical and other hands-on training provided by educational institutions.
The extent to which the internship is tied to the interns formal education program by integrated coursework or the receipt of academic credit.
The extent to which the internship accommodates the interns academic commitments by corresponding to the academic calendar.
The extent to which the internships duration is limited to the period in which the internship provides the intern with beneficial learning.
The extent to which the interns work complements, rather than displaces, the work of paid employees while providing significant educational benefits to the intern.
The extent to which the intern and the employer understand that the internship is conducted without entitlement to a paid job at the conclusion of the internship.

For more details and citations, please review this "Fact Sheet #71" published January 2018 by the U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division.

Unpaid interns are heavily regulated. A simple solution to avoiding the restrictions surrounding an unpaid intern is to use an intern, but pay them even if at minimum wage. Paid interns are more likely to feel more appreciated and, therefore be more productive. Paid interns are also more likely to be enthusiastic in supporting and promoting the business or organization after the internship is over.

The State of California has determined that an intern would be considered an employee of the company and would not be able to be paid via 1099.

FAQs for Employers

No, the WEE needs some time to approve your internship request, as well as recruit students that are suited for the experience. Please expect at least 6 to 8 weeks for us to advertise the position and screen the applicants before sending he best applications to you for final consideration.

First, ensure you have the necessary infrastructure to support an intern, such as a mentor who will be available to review the intern's workplace objectives and support the intern in any issues that come up. Then, fill out the internship request form, our office will reach out to you if we need any additional information or clarification.

Interns are expected to work at least 54 hours per semester, in a traditional 16-week semester, that comes out to 3 hours per week. Interns can work additional hours for additional credit according to the table below. If your internship has a specific duration, such as 8 weeks, you can find the semester total by multiplying the weekly hours by the total amount of weeks the internship will last.

Units	Course	Hour Requirements
1	Coop Ed 195	54 hours - 107 hours
2	Coop Ed 295	108 hours - 161 hours
3	Coop Ed 395	162 - 215 hours
4	Coop Ed 495	216+ hours

Regarding the intern's schedule, we expect employers to be flexible regarding the intern's hours since they are still students and need to meet their class requirements as well. If your schedule is not flexible and you need the intern to be available at specific hours, please include that in your intern request form.

Employers can use the WLAC job board to receive applications. Alternatively, the WEE can receive the applications and screen them before forwarding the strongest applicants to you. Lastly, if you already have another service or software that you use to recruit, interns can also submit applications through that, just include the link to the job posting on your intern request form.

If there are issues with the student, please let the WEE office know as soon as possible so that we can try to reach the student to determine what is causing the problem. If you need to terminate the student, please let them know directly and also communicate it to the WEE office so we can remove the student from the Work Experience program or try to find another opportunity for them.