Is My Unpaid Internship or Trial Shift Legal in Ontario?
Most interns and trial-shift workers in Ontario are legally employees who must be paid at least minimum wage. Unpaid work is the exception, not the rule.
Key takeaways
- Most interns are employees entitled to at least the minimum wage.
- Truly unpaid internships are a narrow exception, not the norm.
- A trial shift where you do real, productive work must be paid.
- Calling it an internship or a trial does not remove your ESA rights.
- Unpaid work you were owed pay for is recoverable.
In this article
Unpaid internships and free trial shifts are common, and often not legal. In Ontario, the default is that if you are doing work, you are an employee and you must be paid. The label an employer uses, intern, trainee, working interview, does not decide it. Here is what the rules actually say.
✅Quick answer. In Ontario, most interns are employees and must be paid at least the minimum wage. Unpaid internships are only lawful in narrow situations, most commonly where the placement is a required part of an approved college or university program. A trial shift or working interview where you perform real, productive work is work, and it must be paid. An employer cannot avoid paying you by calling the job an internship or a trial.
The default: interns are employees
The Employment Standards Act protects employees, and the definition is broad. If you are performing work that benefits the business, under its direction, you are almost certainly an employee entitled to at least minimum wage, vacation pay, and the other basic standards, regardless of whether the role is called an internship. The burden is on the employer to fit a genuine exception, not on you to prove you should be paid.
The narrow unpaid exceptions
- Approved educational placements: the most common lawful unpaid internship is one that is part of a program approved by a college of applied arts and technology or a university (or certain other approved programs). The learning, not the employer's free labour, is the point.
- Certain professional-training requirements: a few specific regulated professions have their own training rules.
- Genuine observation, not work: shadowing where you do not actually perform productive tasks is different from working for free.
If your unpaid internship does not fit a real exception, and most do not, you should have been paid.
Trial shifts and working interviews
A short, hands-off skills demonstration can be part of hiring. But once you are put on the floor doing the actual job, serving customers, cooking, stocking, taking calls, you are working, and you must be paid for that time, at least at minimum wage. An unpaid full trial shift where you did the real work is generally a wage violation, and being told it was just a trial does not change that.
What should you do if you worked unpaid?
- 1.Write down the hours you worked and what you actually did.
- 2.Consider whether any genuine exception (like an approved school placement) really applies.
- 3.Raise it with the employer; unpaid wages, including for trial shifts, are recoverable.
- 4.If it is not resolved, it is an ESA matter you can pursue with the Ministry of Labour.
Being unpaid does not mean being without rights. Your pay floor is the minimum wage, the limits on pay deductions still apply, and if you were let go from a paid role, see severance pay in Ontario.
Frequently asked questions
Are unpaid internships legal in Ontario?
Usually not. Most interns are employees who must be paid at least minimum wage. Unpaid internships are lawful only in narrow situations, most commonly a placement that is a required part of an approved college or university program.
Do I have to be paid for a trial shift?
If you do real, productive work during it, yes. A hands-off skills demonstration can be part of hiring, but once you are doing the actual job you are working and must be paid at least minimum wage.
My employer calls it an internship, so do the rules still apply?
Yes. The label does not decide it. If you are doing work that benefits the business under its direction, you are almost certainly an employee with full ESA rights, whatever the role is called.
Can I recover pay for unpaid intern or trial work?
Generally yes, if you should have been paid. Unpaid wages are recoverable, and you can pursue them with the Ministry of Labour if the employer does not resolve it.
Priya Sharma
Legal Writer, Mirza Law
Priya Sharma is a legal writer at Mirza Law in Toronto. She writes about wrongful dismissal, workplace rights, and what Ontario employees can do when they are treated unfairly.
See all articles
