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HootSuite under fire for using unpaid interns after barrage of online criticism

This file photo shows Vancouver skyline, pictured in 2009. Canada is monitoring an unmanned Japanese ship which was swept into the ocean during last year's tsunami, and will not allow it to wash ashore on the Canadian West Coast, according to the government. (AFP Photo/Don Emmert)

Just days after showing off its fancy new headquarters, Vancouver high-tech darling HootSuite has found itself in hot water over its use of unpaid interns.

The row started last Friday when someone named Ryl posted on reddit that the social-media dashboard creator's use of unpaid interns for three months at a time was illegal under B.C. labour legislation.

By Monday, the thread had grown to hundreds of comments and pushed out into other social media and mainstream news outlets.

"Unpaid internships are exploitive," Amanda Soehnlen posted on Hootsuite's Facebook page. "I love that in your statement, you didn't address the fact that unpaid internships are wrong as well as illegal, just saying you'd make sure not to break the law in the future.

Hootsuite, a darling of Vancouver's IT sector and one of the city's most successful startups with some 250 employees, was pushed into damage control.

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According to the Vancouver Sun, Hootsuite issued an email statement acknowledging the company might have a problem affecting about 15 interns in the last year.

“Recently, I learned about some concerns that a few of our internship job postings may not be in compliance with the local laws,” Holmes wrote, according to the Sun. “I appreciate those who have taken the time to bring this to our attention and we will immediately review this internally.

“When we created the internship program, I believed we were doing the right thing by offering the opportunity for young people to add experience to their resume and join a Vancouver success story. If we learn these internships are not compliant, we will fix it.”

The Sun noted the B.C. Employment Standards Act defines internships as "on-the-job training," to give people embarking on careers some practical experience.

“An apprentice is being trained while working for an employer and as such is performing work and must be paid wages," according to an online guide to the legislation, the Sun said, adding they must be paid at least minimum wage, currently $10.25 an hour.

HootSuite's critics noted the company quickly revised its job postings to eliminate references to the unpaid nature of its three-month internships. But the reddit thread included screen shots of the original posts carrying the notation at the bottom that "the role is unpaid."

The Canadian Intern Association jumped on board Sunday.

"HootSuite’s unpaid internships are almost certainly illegal in British Columbia," Claire Seaborn wrote on the association's site.

"They do not appear to be part of a formal course of study leading to a certificate, diploma or degree and according to the original advertisement the intern is expected to work 40 hours per week ...

"I would like to discourage HootSuite from simply informing candidates that contact them that these positions are unpaid [since it is no longer in the advertisement] and encourage them instead to offer jobs to university graduates that at least provide minimum wage compensation."

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In his response to the association and other critics, Holmes pointed out that in the last year more than half the company's interns got full-time jobs at HootSuite and "many others have successfully moved on to strong careers at other B.C. companies."

Seaborn commended Hootsuite for moving quickly to review its practices but urged the company to compensate past and present unpaid interns with retroactive wages.

The flap over HootSuite's unpaid internships raised the question of wider industry practice.

In a 2011 post on InternMatch.com, also posted to reddit, Hootsuite community marketing director Dave Olson acknowledged "my internships are [almost] always non-paid.

"Opinions throughout the industry differ on this point, but it’s your choice to make. Just ensure you are clear about the terms from the beginning. If you [the company] don’t have budget, let them know and explain the types for benefits they’ll receive from their efforts: Internships are valuable learning experiences and a great way to get a foot in the door of competitive industries."