Howard Stern Intern Files Class Action Lawsuit Against Sirius XM
As if the Howard Stern Show were not already controversial enough, we now have a class action lawsuit from a Stern Intern for unpaid wages. Plaintif Melissa Tierney is suing SuirusXM for unpaid wages. The suit is filed on behalf of herself and any similarly situated intern at SiriusXM. The case centers around the fact the UNPAID INTERNS do not get pay. Tierney served as an intern from about August 2011 through December of 2011.
In the history of television and radio there have always been interns. In most cases these interns do not receive any pay. The concept is that students that want to seek experience in the industry serve as interns. Usually these interns get to learn about the job, answer the phones, get coffee, and simply absorb the atmosphere while they are there. The intern gets their feet wet and sees how things work, and the company gets the benefit of a “gopher” of sorts. It is how things have been done for decades.
Now, I have no real way to verify this, but one almost has to assume that Interns being brought on board are very clearly told that it is an UNPAID POSITION. The SiriusXM website shows that Internships are unpaid , available to college enrolled students and those students receive credits for their internship work.
In the lawsuit Tierney states that she worked 4 days per week and between 6 to 9 hours each day. Interestingly, the suit claims that she had to work over 40 hours per week but did not receive overtime pay. Last time I checked, 9 hours a day multiplied by 4 days is 36 hours. She listed her duties as:
- running errands
- placing orders
- obtaining breakfast orders
- delivering food items to on air personality and office staff
- reviewing news clips
- reporting to on-air personalities
- compiling data
- obtaining signatures from guests
- other tasks necessary to the Defendant’s operations
Tierney is apparently now self employed with a website called MissyonMadison.com, a fashion site where Tierney chronicles her journey to “find great looks at affordable prices”. She launched the site immediately after finishing her internship at SiriusXM. Her Linked In Profile shows her as being the Intern for Robin Quivers. Interestingly, the lawsuit claims that she and other interns did not receive any academic or vocational training, yet the “resume” on LinkedIn indicates that the Digital Communications and Media/MultiMedia major lists that she contributed show ideas and even talked on air on the Intern Show. Ironically, while holding down her position at the Howard Stern Show, she was also a receptionist at Cactus Salon and Spa and an Intern at CupidsPulse.com. There seems to be no lawsuit filed against CupidsPulse, so perhaps that was a paid internship (hmmmm is another suit in the cards?).
Intern
Howard Stern Show
August 2011 – January 2012 (6 months) NYC
*Robin Quiver’s Intern
*Find news articles for her to discuss on the show
*Contribute ideas to the show
*Answer calls
*Talk on air on the ‘Intern Show’ on Howard 101
*Run errands and make sure everything runs smoothly in the office
Receptionist Cactus
Cactus Salon and Spa
Privately Held; 501-1000 employees; Health, Wellness and Fitness industry
August 2010 – January 2012 (1 year 6 months)
*Schedule appointments for special events as well as everyday services
*Answer telephone inquiries pertaining to services, treatments and products
*Handle client payments
*Order retail merchandise
*Open and close the salon in absence of Manager
Intern
CupidsPulse.com
Sole Proprietorship; 1-10 employees; Online Media industry
April 2011 – November 2011 (8 months)
*Write celebrity gossip posts including dating and relationship advice
*Write longer feature stories providing tips and reviews
*Come up with marketing and advertising ideas
*Help plan events
This is not the first time that Interns have filed a suit over pay. Several organizations like Fox, Vanity Faire, and others have also had legal issues surrounding the tradition of unpaid internships. Law360 has an article on the subject. There is even a website dedicated to Intern Justice.
Now, I am not passing judgement on Miss Tierney, but the fact of the matter is that she likely knew very well that the internship was unpaid. The claim that there was no educational or vocational component to her internship seems washy at best. Miss Tierney openly acknowledges that she compiled data, contributed Stern Show ideas, was on the air, and certainly learned a thing or two while there. In fact, just seeing the operations run day in and day out contributes a valuable lesson. Miss Tierney is not at all shy about listing the Stern Show experience on her website and even links to it. If nothing else the Stern Show internship was apparently a valuable experience in that she lists it among her accomplishments in what can only be perceived as selling points. For future reference, if you are going to file a lawsuit you should make sure that your stance in the suit matches your stance on your social media and website. Melissa’s attorney may well not be aware that what Melissa states on her public pages seems to differ from the suit claims.
Should interns get paid? I guess that debate can go on forever. On one hand I can see modest pay for what is done. On the other, the experience can and usually is very valuable. My stance on this suit. If you knew it was unpaid and did not like that, you should have not taken the position. This suit, to me, looks like a money grab. I suspect that the public profiles, on LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. will change soon.
Most likely an attempt for some personal injury lawyer to squeeze out a small settlement.
Hmm, I guess she never wants to get hired by another company again. Mind made up that quickly in life, eh?
Paid vs. Unpaid internships depend on the amount of work vs learning there is to be done.
Unpaid interns should not have to “gopher.” I’m fairly certain SXM has a rule that interns should not be made to go fetch things like coffee. I heard it talked about on Jason Ellis. Not sure if this is a new rule because of the lawsuit but he was told that he couldn’t make his intern go to starbucks to get him a coffee.
Bottom line, if the internship is unpaid, the majority of the time spent there should be used for learning. if it is not, the intern should be paid for their work. No intern, paid or otherwise should have to work overtime.
Overtime? My internships were based on number of hours. If I could get my hours completed sooner I would. I also wouldn’t sign up for an internship for the Howard Stern show without listening and knowing what it’s about. If she is a listener and didn’t know the responsibilities of her job, she is retarded. We all know Grillo got coffee and mashed potatoes all of the time. We all know what Robin did with her interns…
Not to mention, most job descriptions have the “and anything else we ask you do to” clause. We may not like our boss to tell us to get coffee, but it’s allowed.
She has no future. She’s the equivalent of the fat white trash middle ashed woman making jewelry and scarfs out back, attempting to sell them on an underdeveloped website. Good luck with that.
As with any job it’s worth what someone will do it for.
In this case unpaid because that’s what someone will do it for in exchange for knowledge gained at a working business. This should go under the frivolous lawsuit and Sirius should be awarded all of their attorney fees. God knows that would break her based on the fees they indicate they pay fighting other suits.
I hope SiriusXM mops the floor with her and sends her crying back to her parents basement.
It’s a way for her to get 5 seconds of publicity for herself and her website…
Hi Guys,
For your information, it was not my idea to file the suit, I was filing an unrelated case at which point one of the members of the law firm approached me and asked about my background. I mentioned my internships (including Cupids Pulse, Conde Nast and more) and Sirius XM was among them. I was badly injured while interning at Howard Stern and Sirius was well aware of this and as an intern I received no medical aid or help with my thousands of dollars worth of medical bills. I was injured during my period of interning and was unable to do anything about it.
That was why I said ok when the lawyer wanted to file a class action lawsuit, it wasn’t in any way shape or form something I came up with. I enjoyed my time at Howard and yes I was and am a fan of the show, hence why I interned there. I was well aware interns do flunky work and it was unpaid, until I met this lawyer I assumed all internships were unpaid as this author mentioned….that was not my issue, my issue is their lack of response to me being injured on their property while running errands for them. I have nothing against Howard or his staff like I said, I’m a huge fan.
My blog was created less than a year ago…nothing to do with Sirius and this is no way would help promote, publicize or enhance my reputation. As a matter of fact, I am currently unemployed, and a class action lawsuit doesn’t leave me with any more than $1,000 if that….the money goes to lawyers…not me, so before judging me try getting your facts straight.
Sincerely,
Melissa Tierney
Are you claiming that SiriusXM violated Worker’s Compensation Law? Or do the terms of the injury not align with Worker’s Compensation Law?
Rorison,
You are starting to sound like someone who wanted to become a lawyer but was too stupid to pass the Bar Exam. Maybe if you spent more time studying for it and less time stalking websites like this you would have passed.
I was injured getting Howard his fruit salad he requested every morning at 6am…along with the staff’s other multiple breakfast requests from multiple locations which was far from educational, unless my future job was to become a food delivery person and memorize their breakfast orders for years to come, which it might be now since according to you now I will never get a job doing anything else in life.
All I can say is I hope in my future delivery job, that the people tip better than those at Sirius because not one person ever offered me a dime after bringing their orders 😉
Now I would love to know what you do for a living, I’m assuming it isn’t much. My guess is no one would even accept you to be an intern.
Best Of Luck To You Rorison!
Melissa Tierney
You’re dopey. If you listened to the show, you’d know what the internships entail. I’m pretty sure I’m well on my way ahead of you. Two degrees and work for a financial firm as a director. Try again, hun. You’re just another leech trying to get money from a large organization on your ignorance.
Melissa,
Thank you for taking the time to comment. You are free to do so, but I would suggest being very careful about any public comments that you make.
Now, please do not take this the wrong way.
It would appear to me, based on what you said, that your attorney did not fully explain what the suit would be, nor the implications it may have, nor that as lead plaintiff that you would likely see a much better gain if successful than the rest of the class. In fact, it is possible, in my humble opinion, that your attorney preyed upon your naïveté with regard to such matters.
1. You state that you were meeting with an attorney for an unrelated case. I can only assume that it was a case that had nothing to do with Sirius XM.
2. You suffered an injury. I am sorry for that. A claim could have been pursued through SiriusXM’s general liability policy. Or you could have engaged an attorney for that issue and not gone the route of a class action suit.
3. The class action suit does not go into an injury at all. It centers around pay.
4. Did your attorney concel you on the possible publicity (good or bad) that bringing such a suit would bring about?
5. It appears that, given that you think success will only bring you $1,000 or less, that you are simply acting as a conduit for the financial gain of the attorney. I am not insinuating that you are in cahoots with the attorney, but rather that perhaps the attorney did not inform you of what the financial end of a class action suit can mean.
6. Given that you are bringing this suit, and it does not address your injury, what plans do you have to try to rectify that issue. If you were seeking to have medical bills paid, you should have addressed that in your suit. By filing this suit, and not addressing the medical claims, you could be giving up the ability to file another suit. You should speak to your attorney about that.
7. I find it surprising that you were not aware of paid internships. I am not saying you are a liar, but in my experience, in college, there is oft discussions about internships, the ones that pay, and the ones that do not. Students that get paid internships are oft envied by those that do not.
As I said earlier, you should be very careful about what you say in public. Your attorney should have gone through your social media and told you to make certain adjustments prior to this case being filed. Believe it or not, some of what you wrote in the comment above can be damaging to your suit. It appears to me, and again, this is an opinion, that you got talked into something that you did not understand fully. I am not saying you are not a smart girl. Unless you are familiar with lawsuits, or have been around a long time (you are young…I am old) you would have no reason to be wise to the ways of lawsuits or attorneys.
You are certainly free to answer this post if you wish, but I would advise getting some advice before doing so. I am not your enemy. If I were “against” you I would not have penned this post and instead would have egged you on.
Spencer is very smart in his comments…is this suit worth the negative publicity it will likely bring you and impact to your future? Keep your mouth shut online, don’t listen to lawyers unless you paid them a lot of money, otherwise they are just looking for more ways to make money at your expense.
Spencer, I would warn everybody to be careful what they say to this lady on your blog. I do not think any of you would want a defamation, slander of libel lawsuit. Now that you all know her name, it only takes one stupid comment to get the lawyers cogs turning. Just my two cents. PJ
Hey PJ, my name is Baba Booey, how will she find me to sue me for defamation or slander? You can’t sue someone for something said on an open discussion forum. If you could, the internet would explode.
Baba Booey, This was just a friendly suggestion. You may think you are anonymous but they can find anybody. I would rather be safe than sorry. Plus I really don’t think Spencer wants his blog to disintegrate into the trash that is posted on other boards. Spencer hit the nail on the head with his post above. I just do not want to see anybody else dragged into this mess. Good luck!
Melissa–
My biggest question can easily be answered without impacting your case. Was this an academic internship? Meaning did you get college credit for the months you worked on the show?
When I was in college, I worked over 60 hours a week at an alternative rock station in both production and and promotions. I received 12 hours (basically 4 major/300 level courses) of credit toward my bachelor’s degree. I answered the phone mondkessky for hoirs a day . Example: take requests and answer when a prize was bring given away. Caller 101 wins Pearl Jam tickets so I had to pick up and hang up on 100 people before the winning caller #101 would be patched over to the jock that would tell them om the air that they won). I helped at station events at Radio Shacks and amusement parks where I was stung by several bees one morning while we broadcast live. I had to make food runs, wash the promotional vehicles, pass out bumper stickers and pins at parades and festivals. I didn’t necessarily learn much while washing CDs before filing them or washing the station’s Hummer, but you make connections and have something incredible on your resume.
If you truly knew the show and are/were a fan as you said you were….and if you were an intern for Robin Quivers….that is probably the best thing you could possibly have on your resume! You get out what you put in and you worked at a show that is known worldwide! There are few names quite as big as Howard Stern. He is known for promoting from within and while it is unfortunate that you were injured while getting Howard’s order…plus the fact that you werent paid….these are risks and circumstances you were aware of when you applied. You know…as a fan…that interns get the staff’s food orders and it is beyond ridiculous for you to say that you shouldve been tipped! You’re an intern! millions of college students would offer their own money to be able to put The Howard Stern Show on their resume. This attitude that many in their late teens and twenties have today that everything should be tailored around you and that interning should be like a college class where you are being taught by the staff….its so unreasonable. people that get far in this business are the ones that take an opportunity like this and use it to learn as much as possible on their own by observing and being a sponge in every possible way. Robin Quivers, whose name you spelled wrong on your resume, is a busy person going through a lot professionally and personally and interns are there too watch and learn when possible. This idea that they are obligated to teach you when there are so many moving parts…you are seriously misguided in thinking. If you had gone to a small station/company where people have time to do that…then maybe your expectations woukd have been reasonable. THHS is a show that is part of an industry that is dying. One day you will hopefully realize how lucky you were to have that on your resume for the next 40 years. This is reminiscent of the idea that every kid in the race should get a ribbon for participating. You need to create your own success and your own happiness because no one is going to create it for you. I am very sorry that you are physically injured. I just I think that you went about this the wrong way when you had been a fan of the show and knew that interns are the low man on the totem pole at a radio station just like they are in any business and as offend you knew that the interns make the food runs for the staff. it was an unpaid internship from the jump and you seemingly went into it expecting some sort of compensation via tips as you stated in a previous response and you also expected to have someone holding your hand and showing you every little thing that goes on. You need to take the initiative to make yourself available to shadow people while they are doing their jobs. You have to throw a lot of darts before you get anywhere close to the bullseye and the fact that you landed the internship is incredible in itself. I am really sorry that the experience was a negative one for you but other than being hurt while working, it definitely comes off like you had unreasonable expectations of this unpaid internship. they do not have to have interns. You can pay someone mineral wage to make those deliveries or just have someone make those runs for you and not offer how’s credit or any of that with it. Other than being injured, you repeatedly admit that you knew what you were getting into by being a fan of the show.
tl;dr
She’s an idiot.