Serious concerns have been raised tonight about the punishing hours endured by interns at City investment banks following the death of a young Bank of America Merrill Lynch employee.
Moritz Erhardt, 21, was nearing the end of a seven-week internship in London when he collapsed at home after working until 6am for three days in a row.
His body was discovered by his flatmates. The circumstances of his death are unknown, but police are not treating them as suspicious. Some reports suggested that Mr Moritz, from Freiburg, south-west Germany, was epileptic.
Around 300 interns working at various banks stay at the Claredale House student accommodation complex in Bethnal Green in east London for between seven and 10 weeks over the summer. One intern, who did not want to be named, told The Independent those in Mr Moritz’s investing banking division group faced the longest hours.
He said: “We all work long hours, but the guys working regularly until 3am or 4am are those in investment banking. People working in markets will have to be in at 6am but not stay as late, so what time you can leave the office depends on your division.
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White House under pressure to pay its interns
For employers who rely on unpaid interns, it’s been the summer of reckoning.
Hundreds of interns have filed lawsuits or raised complaints over working long hours for free. But one group of former interns is sidestepping the courtroom and going straight to the White House to fight for fair compensation.
The Fair Pay Campaign, a grassroots lobby set to launch around Labor Day, is calling on President Obama to pay White House interns in order to set an example for other government agencies and private employers.
“We have a minimum wage law in this country, and just because you call someone an intern doesn’t mean you get out of it,” said Mikey Franklin, the leader of Fair Pay’s charge.
According to the White House website, its internships are unpaid, housing isn’t provided, and interns should expect to work “at least Monday-Friday, 9 am-6 pm.”
The campaign’s focus has turned to President Obama as he has been stumping for raising the minimum wage all summer.
“We don’t believe the White House can, in good faith, go after minimum wage and at the same time have unpaid staff.”
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via White House under pressure to pay its interns – Aug. 20, 2013.
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