Visible Fruits of Accomplishment: Stagiaire, Modern Day Apprentices The Hidden Trade of the Kitchen
Legality
Although the stagiaire system is widely known and commonly practiced, issues on the legality of the system have begun making waves.
The issue of intellectual property can arise with staging. In
essence, staging provides the learner an opportunity to absorb the
skills and knowledge of the chefs they are working with and incorporate it into
their own cooking. Generally, most chefs seem to support this notion. For example,
esteemed Chef Thomas Keller draws pride on teaching his staff the proper
cooking techniques, and advocates for his stagiaires to continue using
these techniques in the future.[1]
The problem arises
when the inspired dishes turn into carbon copies of the original. As there are limited Intellectual Property
laws that protects the chefs and their cooking techniques (internationally or
in the US), each suit would have to be taken on a case by case basis leaving
the decisions all to the court’s jurisdiction.[2]
Recipes may be protected under the Trade Marks Act existing in most countries,
however, the protection for the chef’s hard work and skills are still very much
limited.
Meanwhile in the
EU, a continent made up of 28 different forms of labor laws, has the EU
wondering how different states define and apply these form of internships.
In the UK for example, an ‘internship’ does not have a legal status,
meaning unless it contains the words ‘workers,’ ‘volunteers’ or ‘employee,’ an
intern does not have an official legal employment status and thus does not have
legal rights.[3]
The area surrounding the internship is grey, and more often than not, the
courts with reasonable judgement, would view interns as ‘workers,’ as
precedented by the Keri Hudson vs My Village case.[4] Furthermore a student required
to do an internship for less than one year as part of a higher education course
aren’t entitled to a National Minimum Wage.[5]
However now, with Britain choosing to exit the EU, issues on cross borders
internship arises as well, placing even more legality issues on an already
concerning problem.
Then there are countries that provide interns with a minimum wage.
Interns in France for instance, are required to be paid a minimum of 500€ per
month if the staging lasts for more than 3 months whilst in Ireland, the
allowance provided for interns can reach up to 80% of the minimum wage for
workers.[6]
In 2013,
Eurobarometer released a survey
report of 18-35 year-olds, and found that out of the 46% that had completed
at least one internship, 59% of the respondents did not receive financial
compensation. Even amongst those that were compensated, only 46% noted that it
was enough to cover their basic cost of living.[7]
Similarly, in the USA, The Fair Labor Standards Act requires all
employers to pay at the very least, the minimum wage to workers which could
only be applied to ‘employees.’ Here, ‘employees’ can be vaguely defined
as "any individual employed by an employer."[8] This
definition has largely been left to the courts to interpret what the implied
meant, though the general opinion suggests that stagiaires would be
considered employees under the FLSA.[9]
Culinary school internships on the other hand is dependent on the form of
internship undertaken by the student itself. The fact that the students receive
school credits whilst staging makes it unlikely that they would be
considered employees under the FLSA.[10]
The Black Swan lawsuit from Alex Footman and Eric Glatt, who knowingly worked for
the film production for free, sued Fox claiming that the amount of work they
had completed should be entitled to a minimum wage. Fox eventually settled, but
the precedent for a flood of litigation had been set.[11]
Most restaurants have
thus far been spared from labor law charges, all thanks to a culture of
compliance that permeates within the cooking industry.[12]
Thus if any of them tell-tale, they risk being black-listed. In an already cut
throat environment, who would burden themselves with such a label, all the
while stifling any job opportunities – no one will hire a rat.
Unfortunately,
this culture of keeping mum can only last so long. Claims of unpaid wages will
hit the world’s biggest restaurants sooner or later. Once litigation starts to
hit the fans, the stage that we know of might simply just cease to
exist. The stage of tomorrow might be forced to accept a minimum wage,
or in an effort to comply with labor laws, won’t even be able to perform actual
work and be only simply allowed to shadow.
LYCHEExMARJORAM
[1] Sarah
Segal, “Keeping it in the Kitchen: An Analysis of Intellectual Property
Protection through Trade secrets in the Restaurant Industry,” in 37 Cardozo Law Review 152, April 2016.
[2] Sarah
Segal, “Keeping it in the Kitchen: An Analysis of Intellectual Property
Protection through Trade secrets in the Restaurant Industry,” in 37 Cardozo Law Review 152, April 2016.
[3] "Employment Rights and Pay for
Interns - GOV.UK". Gov.Uk. Accessed on October 31, 2016. https://www.gov.uk/employment-rights-for-interns
[4] Shiv Malik, “Unpaid Website Intern
Celebrates Court Victory,” The Guardian, 23 May, 2011. Accessed on October
31, 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/may/23/unpaid-website-intern-court-victory.
[5] "Employment
Rights and Pay for Interns - GOV.UK". Gov.Uk. Accessed on October 31, 2016. https://www.gov.uk/employment-rights-for-interns
[6] Alexandre Normand, “An EU-wide law on internships: still a pipe
dream,” Cafebabel, March 31, 2015. Accessed on October 31, 2016,
http://www.cafebabel.co.uk/society/article/an-eu-wide-law-on-internships-still-a-pipe-dream.html
[7] “The
Experience of Trainership in the EU” in Flash Eurobameter 378, European
Commission, November 2013. Accessed
on October 31, 2016. http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/flash/fl_378_en.pdf
[8] Trip Matt, “Why America's Best Restaurants Might Lose a Crucial Labor
Source,” Eater March 16, 2015. Accessed
on 31 October 2016. http://www.eater.com/2015/3/16/8210363/restaurant-stage-illegal-stagiaire-kitchen-intern
[9] Trip Matt, “Why America's Best Restaurants Might Lose a Crucial Labor
Source,” Eater March 16, 2015. Accessed
on 31 October 2016. http://www.eater.com/2015/3/16/8210363/restaurant-stage-illegal-stagiaire-kitchen-intern
[10] Trip Matt, “Why
America's Best Restaurants Might Lose a Crucial Labor Source,” Eater March 16,
2015. Accessed on October 31, 2016. http://www.eater.com/2015/3/16/8210363/restaurant-stage-illegal-stagiaire-kitchen-intern
[11] Eriq Gardner, “Fox Reaches Settlement in Landmark
Lawsuit Over Unpaid Internships,” UUnpaid Interns Lawsuit, 12 July 2016.
Accessed on October 31, 2016.
http://www.unpaidinternslawsuit.com/news/2016-07-12/fox-reaches-settlement-landmark-lawsuit-over-unpaid-internships
[12] Trip Matt, “Why America's Best Restaurants Might Lose a Crucial Labor
Source,” Eater March 16, 2015. Accessed
on October 31, 2016.
