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What is an internship agreement template?
An internship agreement template is a simple legal document used to outline the terms, responsibilities, and expectations between a company and an intern. The main purpose of the document is to define conditions of the internship, including role, duration, reporting structure, confidentiality obligations, and intellectual property rights.
The parties involved in an internship agreement are a company or business and an intern. The internship is meant to allow graduates, students, and young professionals to gain new skills, knowledge, or expertise for their future careers for free. For companies it is a good tool to recruit potential candidates for employment.
This document shall not be confused with an employment agreement. In the case of employment relations, an individual is being hired for a specific job or work in exchange for remuneration. Being an employee is a protected legal status, which means that a company that hires has to meet minimum standards—safety of workplace, regular compensation, insurance, unemployment benefits, vacation, etc.
An internship agreement sample cannot be used for voluntary work in non-government organizations.
Who should use this internship agreement template?
An internship contract agreement template is a popular contract that many individuals and businesses across the U.S. use on a daily basis.
- HR Departments. Having a customizable internship contract for HR departments is a quick and easy solution to engage lots of young professionals and students. This is especially important for big companies that run various internal internship programs.
- Startups and SMEs. Many growing companies, especially in tech-related industries, are keen to solicit the young generation to participate in various projects. Thus, having a simple internship agreement template can facilitate the onboarding process.
- Nonprofit Organizations. Lots of charitable, religious, or scientific institutions may need time to engage students or recent graduates to participate in NGOs’ activities and events.
What does the internship agreement template cover?
Effective legislation does not provide any specific internship agreement format. Basically, parties may include any clauses they deem necessary. At the same time, inclusion of certain elements is mandatory to ensure that the final document is complete. Below we prepared the list of key elements every internship agreement template must have.
Internship Details
The first and the most important section is the internship’s details. This is where the company lists all the conditions of the internship a student or a graduate must be aware of. Those conditions include:
- location (e.g., company’s office, courtroom);
- list of duties;
- duration of the internship (e.g., until a specific date, until an intern graduates from the college or university, etc.);
- supervisor (i.e., a person to whom an intern must directly report);
- list of equipment an intern shall get to participate in the internship (e.g., laptop, mobile phone, etc.).
Non-Employment Status
It is crucial that the internship contract agreement template clearly reflects a non-employment status of an intern. It means that:
- An internship agreement excludes any employment relations between a company and an intern.
- An intern will not get any position or job within a company after the completion of the internship; and
- An intern will not get any benefits associated with employment (e.g., insurance, vacation, etc.).
Compensation Package
The internship could be of two types—paid and unpaid. For an unpaid internship agreement template, it is crucial to include a short statement emphasizing that the internship is unpaid. In the case of a paid internship, the following details should be additionally included in the contract:
- the amount of compensation and its frequency (e.g., one-time payment, annual, weekly, or monthly);
- acceptable payment method (e.g., bank transfer, cash);
- additional non-cash benefits (e.g., compensation of travel expenses, mobile expenses).
Termination
The internship agreement format is quite flexible and allows either party to end it any time with or without cause. If either party wants to terminate this contract, a prior written notice should be sent to the other party. The notice period could be between 3 and 30 days depending on the initial duration of the internship.
It is common for the internship agreement template to include a company’s unilateral right to end the contract immediately once certain circumstances occur. Amongst those circumstances could be the following:
- An intern does not attend the internship for several days in a row without any formal explanation.
- An intern violates the company’s internal policy (e.g., non-discrimination, harassment policy, etc.);
- A company starts insolvency or liquidation procedure.
How to customize an internship agreement sample at FasterDraft?
To get a downloadable internship agreement template for companies, follow a few easy steps below:
- Click the “Create Document” button.
- Answer simple questions in the form.
- Select a template’s format—internship agreement PDF or Word.
- Make a payment.
- E-sign, download, print out, and use the document.