Gawker Media LLC has begun filing documents in response to a lawsuit brought by a group of the site’s former unpaid interns, who claim they are entitled to back pay under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. The suit, initially filed in a Manhattan federal court in June of last year, follows a similar, successful, claim by former Fox Searchlight interns who worked on the movie “Black Swan.”
Gawker’s attempt to block the suit comes in the form of signed affidavits, submitted to the court and obtained by PandoDaily, in which Gawker employees explain why it was perfectly reasonable to expect editorial interns to work without pay (and in some cases without so much as college credit). In short: the invaluable educational experience of working at Gawker should be reward enough.