Elizabeth Warren campaign accused of misleading people into thinking they were getting paid internships
Two people who tried to work for Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) have criticized her campaign, claiming that they were misled about the potential of receiving payment for their work, according to a report from the Daily Beast.
Here's what we know
One of the people interviewed by the Daily Beast said that he was led to believe that the campaign's fellowship program was a paid internship.
In actuality, according to Jonathan Nendze, these fellowships were glorified volunteer positions.
"What was sold to me was very different than it actually was," Nendze told the Daily Beast. "It was kind of a great scam of getting people to show up and work in the capacity of volunteer, but to function as a paid intern in the amount of work they're doing."
Nendze, a senior at Seton Hall University, claimed that the wording of their application "kind of took advantage of people who were really eager to get experience."
The other potential campaign worker interviewed by the Daily Beast, Cole (who declined to give his last name), said that he decided to turn down a role in the campaign after being initially promised that interns were promised housing, but then not hearing confirmation about this housing as late as six days before he was supposed to start his internship.
Cole, a recent political science graduate, called this "disheartening."
On Wednesday, Warren contacted all her campaign fellows and interns on a conference call. The Daily Beast said that this call happened after it reached out to the campaign for comment about the accusations from disgruntled volunteers.
Warren isn't the only one accused of not running her campaign by its own principles
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), another presidential hopeful, has been accused of unfair labor practices, including unlawful discharge of an employee, illegal interrogation of an employee, and illegal discipline.
While Sanders is an advocate for a $15 minimum wage, he also reportedly cut hours for his own staff so that their pay would average $15 an hour, instead of raising their pay.
