Rep. Choi Min-hee of the Democratic Party submitted Friday a revision bill to provide legal protection for students working in unpaid internships.

Under the current Labor Standards Act, unpaid part-time workers are not entitled to protection under the fair labor standards.

There are growing numbers of university students applying for internship programs, regardless of the pay, as they have become “a necessary requisite” in entering the real job market. Many students, however, have faced discrimination with their rights unprotected, Choi said.

According to Choi, the revised bill is designed to protect unpaid interns from discrimination in age and gender, and problems arising from working overtime or outside of one’s scope of duty.

(596story@heraldcorp.com)