“CBS This Morning” and “The Charlie Rose Show” host Charlie Rose agreed to pay $250,000 (via his production company Charlie Rose Inc.) to settle a lawsuit brought by a former intern on his PBS program.
As we noted back in March, the intern sued Rose and his company for not paying her when she served as an intern. New York has very strict laws regarding unpaid internships, and the media business makes frequent use of the unpaid labor pool.
Rose and his company will also have to pay back wages for as many as 189 other former interns, according to the New York Times.
The settlement agreement states that Mr. Rose and his production company “do not admit any liability or wrongdoing” and says they agreed to the settlement “solely for the purpose of avoiding the costs and disruption of ongoing litigation and to settle all claims.”
Other media companies being sued by former interns include Fox and Hearst. With the Rose settlement, others may very well follow.