Internship: A Bridge to Employment or a Trap to a Disguised Employment Relationship?

Abstract

Internship can be and should be a vital part of the switch from edification to the workplace. This article however questions the extent to which internships are used to serve as a transition between education and employment. Though considered valuable to the host institution, many interns face high levels of job uncertainty. One key contributing factor is the existence of disguised forms of employment in the Kenyan labour market. This occurs when the true legal status of a person who is an employee is disguised in a way that hides his or her true legal status or gives it an appearance of a different legal nature. Arguably, interns have fallen victims. The current internship arrangement in Kenya poses several thorny employment law questions particularly the legal status of the intern. Arguably, the existing internship arrangement permits dishonest host institutions to take advantage of the arguably weak monitoring and enforcement system of the employment laws resulting in intern exploitation. The analysis done in this article reveals that interns are possibly employees and should thus be afforded full protection embedded under Article 41 of the Constitution as well as the Employment Act, 2007 including job security, fair remuneration and reasonable working conditions The article emphasises that the National Employment Authority and other relevant authorities should seek to perform their mandate effectively by monitoring all placements of interns to ensure that they are not exploited or their rights violated by host institutions in which they are undertaking their internship.