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In Ontario and most Canadian provinces, unpaid work is presumed to be employment unless it clearly falls into a narrow exception. We structure every Branchout pod against the ESA’s six-factor trainee test, and we require every condition to be met — not just most of them:

• The training resembles what a student would receive in a classroom or vocational program, not on-the-job production work.
• The training exists for the student’s benefit, not the organization’s.
• Branchout and any partner organization derive little to no commercial benefit from the student’s work.
• Students never fill a role that would otherwise belong to a paid employee.
• No student is promised a job or offer at the end of their track.
• Every student is told in writing, before starting, that the program is unpaid.

We do not claim to be a school-approved co-op placement — we are not affiliated with any college, university, or school board. If you need your internship to satisfy a course requirement or receive academic credit, your institution must review and approve it directly; we’re glad to provide documentation, but the approval decision is theirs, not ours.

U.S. students and mentors are evaluated against the Department of Labor’s seven-factor primary beneficiary test (FLSA Fact Sheet #71). We aim to satisfy each factor, including:

• Both sides understand in writing, upfront, that there is no expectation of pay.
• Training mirrors an educational environment rather than day-to-day operational work.
• The program’s length is limited to the period that provides genuine learning value, not open-ended labor.
• Learning and mentorship — not the organization’s output — is the primary product of the relationship.
• There is no entitlement to a paid position once a track is complete.

State and local rules can add further requirements on top of the federal test. We recommend students check their own state’s labor department guidance in addition to the federal standard.

Outside Canada and the U.S., internship law varies widely by country and sometimes by region within a country. Rather than track every jurisdiction individually, we apply the same protective standard everywhere:

• Training-focused, never a substitute for paid staff.
• Capped in scope to what provides genuine learning value.
• Never conditioned on a promised job at the end.
• Always disclosed in writing before a student starts.

If your local law is stricter than our internal standard, your local law controls.