The Fair Labor Standards Act : Its Impact on Training Programs

1
The Fair Labor Standards Act Its Impact on
Training Programs

• Results of the APPIC/ACCTA SurveyAPPIC
  Membership ConferenceOrlando, Florida April
  2005

Jeff Baker, Ph.D., ABPP, The University of Texas
Medical Branch Joyce Illfelder-Kaye, Ph.D.,
Penn State University - Mollie Jaschik-Herman,
Ph.D., Towson University - Barry Schreier, Ph.D.,
Purdue University
Background The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
was enacted into law in August 2004. It requires
that most employees in the US be paid at least
the federal minimum wage for all hours worked and
overtime pay at time and one-half the regular
rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 hours in
a work week. This sets the new minimum annual
salary for those not earning overtime pay at
23,660. Questions have been raised at to
whether this legislation applied to psychology
internship programs.
Description of the Respondents Armed Forces
Medical Center - 2 Child /Adolescent
Psychiatric of Pediatrics - 6 Community Mental
Health Center -10 Consortium - 7 Medical School
- 10 Prison or Correctional Facility -
4 Private General Hospital - 2 Private
Outpatient Clinic - 1 Private Psychiatric
Hospital - 2 School District -
2 State/County/Other Public Hospital -
7 University Counseling Center - 30 Veterans
Affairs Medical Center - 20 Other - 8
Setting Differences in Stipends of Sites with
Stipends gt 23,660 Armed Forces Medical Center
- 100 Prison or Correctional Facility -
78 State/County/Other Public Hospital -
50 Child /Adolescent Psychiatric of Pediatrics -
43 Community Mental Health Center - 40 Private
Outpatient Clinic - 33 University Counseling
Center - 30 Consortia - 22 Other - 16 Medical
School - 12 Veterans Affairs Medical Center -
20 No school districts, private general
hospitals, or private psychiatric hospitals have
stipends 23,660.
Abstract APPIC and ACCTA jointly conducted an
on-line survey to determine the effects of the
recent FLSA legislation on internship training
programs around the country. A total of 201
internship training directors completed the
on-line survey for a response rate of 31.
Results show that 71 of sites continue to have
stipends less than 23,660.
Current Internship Stipends 71 less than
23,660 - (N 174) 6 equal to 23,660 - (N
15) 19 greater than 23,660 - (N 46) Other -
(N 9)
Regional DescriptorsTotal Sample Northeast US
- 22 Southeast US - 16 Middle US North -
25 Middle US South - 8 Northwest US -
6 Southwest US - 20 Canada - 2
Regional Differences in Stipends of Sites
with Stipends 23,660 35 in the Middle US
South - (N 20) 33 in the Northeast US - (N
54) 25 in the Middle US North - (N 61) 20 in
the Northwest US - (N 15) 22 in the Southwest
US - (N 49) 16 in the Southeast US - (N 38) 0
in Canada - (N 0)
Other Concerns About FLSA 22 of sites have been
hesitant to consult with their HR Departments due
to related concerns (like loss of employee
benefits for interns is they are not considered
employees) 69 of sites would like
APPIC/ACCTA/APA to take forward concerns
regarding FLSA 39 of sites indicated that if
the Dept. of Labor determined that ALL psychology
interns should get 23,660 or overtime pay for
work over 40 hours they would need to cut the
number of intern positions. Several sites
mentioned that it is difficult to get 2000 hours
if interns only work 40 hrs. per week. Several
sites mentioned that this debate has led to
greater scrutiny of the cost/benefits of having
an internship program.
Percent of all sites that believed they were
exempt from the FLSA law 53 of all respondents
believed their site was exempt. (N125) 47 of
all respondents believed their site was not
exempt, but only 25 of sites have a salary gt
23,660. (N 111)
Other Responses to FLSA 12 of sites raised the
stipend to at least 23, 660. (N 30) 20 of
sites are monitoring that Psychology Interns do
not work more than 40 hours per week. (N 48) 7
of sites are giving interns flex/comp time for
hours worked over 40. (N 18) 9 of sites did
not need to respond to the FLSA because their
stipend was already 23,660. (N 23) 27 of
sites are making no changes because they have
determined through consultation with their HR
department that their interns are not considered
employees under the FLSA. (N 65) 9 of sites
planned no changes, because they plan to proceed
as if they do not know the law applies to them.
(N 22) 15 Other. (N 37)
Conclusions There appears to be no uniform
response to the FLSA legislation across all
psychology internship programs. While 47 of
sites believe that FLSA does apply to their
internship program, 71 of internship sites
continue to have stipends less than
23,660,. For those sites that have concluded
that FLSA does apply, but do not have the
resources to increase stipends, other strategies
have needed to be employed, including program
modification, monitoring of hours, and/ or
overtime pay.
Responses to FLSA 18 of sites that increased
their stipends for the class of 05-06 did it in
response to concerns about the FLSA (N 36) Of
sites that increased stipends in response to FLSA
10 needed to reduce the number of intern
slots. (N12) 3 cannibalized an existing staff
position. (N4) 6 reduced funds available for
other non-salary expenditures like professional
development, supplies (N8) 38 were able to
obtain the funds without sacrificing anything
(N47)