Question

Hi HR Practitioners,

An intern wrote into my Company seeking to do an Internship with us for 12 working weeks as part of his University Final Year studies. An interview was conducted and Intern was offered the job and he is requested to commence his Internship from 1st Aug. 2018 till 31st Oct 2018.

My question here was from 1st Aug. 2018 till date 8th Aug. 2018 he only reports to work for one day i.e. 2nd Aug.2018. The rest of the days was cited as follows via email:

1) 1st Aug. 2018: Not feeling well, will only come in the next day
2) 2nd Aug. 2018: Report to the office but no work is done, basically just orientation (which took almost 1/2 a day with all debts and rest briefing by Dept Head on what he will be doing & learn the whole of his Internship).
3) 3rd Aug. 2018: Cannot come due to Uncle's cremation
4) 6th Aug. 2018: No call and No show
5) 7th Aug. 2018: Just returned from Malaysia after funeral possession and need another day of rest.
6) 8th Aug. 2018: Informed cannot come due need submit assignment and need to sit the final exam on this day & 14th Aug. 2018.

With due consideration, we have decided to terminate the Internship serving 1-day notice as per agreement by either party with reasons that he lacks responsibility and commitment to even informed us of his exams, etc. Thus, would like to know if the Company is still liable to pay his one day salary?

Await your sharing.

Thank you.

Christina

Reply 1

Since the Company has decided to terminate the intern and based on the situation explained. The Company still need to pay the intern one day salary even is an orientation. Unless the termination had mentioned and agreed by both parties no payment will be made to him or her.

Shirley

Reply 2

I feel that the key issue here is mutual fairness (to both company and intern). Given the situation, it is fair for the company to terminate the internship with due notice. However, it is also fair for the intern to be paid for the 1 day he spent in the company.

AL

Reply 3

I normally refer to the interested student back to their Uni/Poly/ITE. The school will act as the monitoring agent between student and company. In your case, the school will screen and confirm available internship period before internship proceeds.

We referred the Intern to the agreed Terms & Conditions in the signed contract.  Intern has to realise that it is not “play play” obligation where there are binding implications;  Intern needs to learn responsibilities in the real biz world; Internship is a requirement for their school term so take it seriously. In your case, go by your contract with this intern.

Rose

Reply 4

You still need to pay for his one day of work.

Munjit

Reply 5

I totally feel your pain. I’ve experienced such new hires before. Also, people who do not show up for work after signing the contract! If a company pulls the same stunt, the employee would be reporting us to MOM! As a result of the above, we shifted our orientation day out of the employment period. I now meet new hires for orientation a few days before starting work.

Frances