Olsen twins respond to intern lawsuit
Forty current and previous interns of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen are bringing a class-action suit against the twins' fashion empire.
The class-action suit against the 29-year-olds alleges their company, Dualstar Entertainment Group, failed to pay interns for menial tasks. Dualstar Entertainment is the parent company of the Olsen twins' fashion labels, Elizabeth and James and The Row.
The suit argues the interns should have been paid minimum wage because they were doing similar jobs as their paid colleagues, without receiving any academic or vocational credit.
"As an initial matter, Dualstar is an organization that is committed to treating all individuals fairly and in accordance with all applicable laws," Dualstar representative Annett Wolf wrote in a statement to USA TODAY. "The allegations in the complaint filed against Dualstar are groundless, and Dualstar will vigorously defend itself against plaintiff's claims in court, not before the media. Dualstar is confident that once the true facts of this case are revealed, the lawsuit will be dismissed in its entirety."
The case's lead plaintiff, former design intern Shahista Lalani, says she was hospitalized for dehydration as a result of the job.
“It was like 100 degrees outside," she told the New York Daily News. "I’d just be sweating to death. I probably carried like 50 pounds worth of trench coats.”
According to court papers, Lalani says her 50-hour weeks at The Row consisted of “inputting data into spreadsheets, making tech sheets, running personal errands for paid employees, organizing materials, photocopying, sewing, pattern cutting, among other related duties."
She also says she was treated poorly while working under The Row's head technical designer for five months.
“She was very demanding,” Lalani said. “I was doing the work of three interns. I was talking to her all day, all night. Emails at nighttime for the next day, like 10 p.m. at night.”
“The head technical designer was like, ‘Go get my Advil. I need this and this because I’m feeling sick and I have this meeting,’ ” Lalani said.
Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, internships at for-profit companies can be unpaid if the internship is "for the benefit of the intern" and "similar to training which would be given in an educational environment."
Unpaid interns have hit back at media and entertainment companies after a landmark case in 2011, when two interns on the set of Black Swan sued Fox Searchlight Pictures in September 2011, alleging they should've been paid for performing administrative duties such as fetching coffee and answering phones. The Federal District Court ruled in favor of the interns.
"Searchlight received the benefits of their unpaid work, which otherwise would have required paid employees," wrote Judge William H. Pauley III in his ruling.
Dualstar is the latest company to see a lawsuit from former interns after the Black Swan case, joining other companies including Hearst, Condé Nast, Warner Music Group, Atlantic Records, Gawker Media and Donna Karen International.