Welcoming new interns at your company for the summer? Are interns entitled to the same rights & benefits as regular employees? And what happens if one of them slips up or deliberately violates the company’s trust?
You can find answers to these questions in any standard internship contract!
What’s an Internship Contract?
An internship contract is a legal document that clarifies the terms and conditions of the internship program for both the intern and the company hiring them. Without one, interns may feel lost about what they need to do, while companies might have no way to seek legal recourse if an intern seriously and deliberately violates the terms of the contract.
The good news is, you don’t have to start drafting a new contract from scratch. That’s right! We offer the perfect, easy-to-use Internship Contract template you can tailor to your company’s individual needs or the specific internship program you’re working with!
Tailor Me!
For user ease, our templates are available in multiple file formats, including Microsoft Word for easy offline editing, OpenDocument (ODT) for compatibility with various word processors, and via Google Docs for cloud-based sharing, editing, and collaboration. You can also customize our default text to reflect the needs of your internship programs.
Remember, you can always rename clauses, delete or edit them, or rearrange the order they are in using an editable version of the file. Use checkboxes and text placeholders throughout the document to quickly select the correct option as it applies to you.
What’s Included?
Much like a regular Employment Contract, internship contracts define the terms of the relationship between the intern and the company. Typically covering the following details:
- The professional duties & responsibilities of the intern
- The duties & expectations of the company hiring
- Duration of the internship contract
- Compensation for interns (if any)
- Confidentiality or NDA clauses (if applicable) to protect the business interests of the company
- Means of resolving future disputes
- Grounds and procedure for terminating the contract
- Dated signatures of both parties
Internship Contract – At a Glance
Whether you are hiring interns or recruiting for a full-time position, you need a written internship (or employment) contract to ensure legal security and protection for all parties involved.
With our premade contract, you won’t have to spend extra time figuring out what standard clauses to include in your internship contract, as our team of legal gurus & HR experts has already done the legwork for you.
And yes, this template is 100% customizable. That means you can easily adjust each clause to match the specifics of your internship program, company policies, and labor laws applicable in your area. Prefer a different font or layout? Use the editable Word version to modify the font style, size, or color to your liking.
Now, without further ado, let’s explore each contract clause in more detail…
Internship Contract – A Clause-by-Clause Breakdown
Identify date & location
As with every contract, it’s important to identify when and where the contract is being signed. This ensures proper documentation and helps determine which local or state laws apply in case of legal disputes later.
Add details of both parties
Accurately and diligently enter the personal identification details of the parties to avoid any confusion later on. Use this part of the template to carefully add the names and contact details of each party. And while you are at it, make sure you only add the most updated information, such as verified phone numbers, current postal addresses, and functional email IDs. Doing your due diligence beforehand can save you from legal difficulties or practical inconveniences down the road.
Specify internship position & duration
The first two contract clauses lay down the basic structure of the internship program. Use built-in placeholders & checkboxes to:
- Identify the exact professional role (or position) the intern will be taking on at the company.
- Clarify the nature of the intern’s work model: whether on-site, remote, or a combination of both.
- Specify the total duration of the internship contract.
Devising a work schedule
While some interns come in for a full day, others work part-time.Clarify the level of time commitment involved, ensuring a productive relationship between the parties. Use this clause to pin down which days of the week the intern is expected to work, as well as the exact number of hours they must work each day.
Proceed to create a holiday schedule for the intern by enlisting the exact holidays offered to them in the space provided. Alternatively, check the first box if holidays are offered as per the company’s official holiday schedule, which may be available in the employee handbook or internal policies.
Feel free to use our Weekly Work Schedule template to visualize workloads, rotate shifts, and ensure accountability across a 7-day cycle.
Clarifying intern duties & responsibilities
Here, jot down the exact tasks or projects the intern will be expected to work on. In most cases, the work assigned to interns will bear relevance to their educational or academic background. Duties may include administrative tasks, research, writing marketing copies, monitoring social media, or attending meetings, depending on the nature of the company and the type of internship opportunities they offer.
Determining compensation & benefits
Now, let’s talk money. First up, decide if interns will be paid or not. While in some countries, companies are required to pay their interns minimum wage, in other jurisdictions (including most US states), interns are not treated as ‘employees’ for legal purposes, and therefore not paid. For U.S.-based companies, this means that the legal requirements under FLSA do not apply to interns, and it’s entirely up to each company’s discretion to decide what financial compensation to give interns.
Use this section to confirm if:
- No compensation offered to the intern.
- Compensation offered on an hourly, weekly, or monthly basis (to be specified by the user). Note: Such compensation shall be subject to applicable taxes.
- A stipend is offered to reimburse employees for official expenses. Note: Such stipend shall NOT be subject to payroll taxes, unless otherwise required by law.
Download our free Check Request Form to reimburse interns (or employees) for out-of-pocket expenses incurred during the course of their jobs, while also providing a clear financial record for tax & auditing purposes.
Returning company assets
When you hand company assets to interns, what assurance do you have that they’ll return to you in good condition?
This contract clause offers legal assurance for companies, discouraging any reckless or negligent behavior on the part of interns. Use this clause to put a time frame on how long (after termination of the contract) interns have to return all company-owned assets. These may be laptops, phones, recording equipment, access cards, or hard drives containing company data.
But hey, if you are looking for a more detailed formal equipment agreement, you can always download our pre-made Employee Equipment Agreement to ensure the safety of company assets, promoting a smooth and responsible workflow.
The termination clause
Internships don’t always complete their nature course. Some serious or complicated situations may call for an immediate end to the agreement. In other cases, either party may find it prudent or opportune to part ways as long as a heads-up is given to the other party in time.
Our template gives you two options in the form of checkboxes:
- Termination without notice: Here, the Company reserves the right to end the internship agreement without the need for a notice period. This legal option comes in handy when an Intern is involved in misconduct or is unable to perform their assigned duties.
- Termination with notice: Both parties reserve the right to unilaterally end the agreement, as long as they grant the other a certain number of days’ prior written notice. Use the blank to specify the notice period, as per your company or internship program policy.
Ideally, both parties must strive for a smooth termination process. Interns are encouraged to maintain a professional demeanor and offer to help the company with the transition period. While companies must work on making necessary adjustments and ensuring a professional departure.
Ensuring confidentiality
Whether it’s trade secrets or business strategies, it is normal for companies to take precautionary legal measures to protect any confidential information that interns may have access to. Use this built-in confidentiality clause to protect your business interests and remind interns of the legal consequences of disclosing, reproducing, distributing, or using any confidential Information they have access to.
You can use this clause to further specify for how long (after the contract ends) the intern is bound by the confidentiality clause.
Feel free to check out our standardized Non-Compete and Non-Disclosure agreement for more legal clarity on what interns can or cannot share without prior approval from the company!
No guarantee of employment
While it’s true that internships sometimes land you a job offer in the same company, this is not always the case. In fact, it is entirely up to the company’s discretion whether they are open to the idea of internships as gateways to permanent salaried positions.
For this reason, companies need to clarify to new interns that the internship does not amount, in any way, to an offer of a full-time job after the internship period. A full-time job shall require a separate employment contract to be negotiated & signed between the parties.
Interns must know this to avoid a case of misunderstandings or mismatched expectations. Nearly all across the board, interns do not get the same employment benefits under the law as regular employees, such as paid leave, health insurance, or retirement contributions.
Representation & warranties
Internship programs are meant to be a professionally enriching experience for both parties. And just like all formal contracts, their foundation must be laid in good faith and honesty.
Use this section to confirm that the intern:
- Has the legal authority and capacity to enter into the internship contract
- Has provided honest & accurate information as part of their internship application say, identity documents or educational records
- Is contractually free to enter into the agreement – that is, signing the internship contract does not violate any existing contractual or otherwise legal obligations
These confirmations ensure that both parties are legally protected. For example, if an intern doesn’t have the legal authority to work or is bound by a non-compete clause, the company could face legal challenges. Additionally, if the intern provides inaccurate information, such as falsifying qualifications, it could undermine the integrity of the internship and the company’s reputation.
Limitation of liability
When forging new relations in the professional world, there’s always the looming, somewhat ominous question of: What happens if things go wrong? Say, someone on-site is physically injured, or a confidential document is recklessly leaked.
Situations like these call for a liability clause. In our template, we stipulate two scenarios based on whose fault it is:
- If a third party is at fault, then both the Intern and Company shall NOT be held legally liable for any damage, loss or injury caused as a result of the actions of the third party.
- If the damage or loss is a result of the action of the Intern of the Company, the party at fault may be held personally liable within the limits defined by law.
The Severability Clause
This is another standard clause found in most legal contracts, from employment agreements to business partnerships. But what purposes does it serve?
Imagine going to court over a legal dispute, only to have the Judge rule that the provision or clause in question is not valid in the eyes of the law. Does this mean the rest of the contracts fall apart, too?
No. Thanks to a severability clause, even if one part of a contract is deemed legally invalid, the rest of the agreement still stands. For example, if a court rules that a non-compete clause in the internship contract is unenforceable, including a severability clause ensures that the rest of the clauses, such as those outlining the intern’s responsibilities and compensation terms, remain intact.
Resolving future legal disputes
Now, what happens when both parties find themselves at loggerheads? For example, an intern may report harassment from a senior company official, or the company manager might complain that the intern’s reckless behavior caused irreparable harm to the business’s reputation.
To protect both parties from confusion, it’s important to identify (in Clause XIV) the individual US state whose laws shall govern any potential disputes arising between the parties down the line (you’d fill that in, like ‘New York’ or ‘Texas’). Knowing this beforehand can help you avoid confusion, prevent prolonged conflicts, and save organisational & individual resources.
Need to make changes to the agreement after it’s signed?
Clause XV specifically lays out that the legal process through any part of the agreement may be amended. Changes must be:
- Put in writing
- Signed by both parties
Need to add more clauses?
If you feel the need to insert extra provisions or stipulations we may have missed, you can always lay them out under Clause XVI. We provide blank space for you to spell out the exact terms or provisions you want to add on top of the pre-existing ones.
Date & sign
To make it legally binding, both parties must sign and date the document, thus acknowledging they have read and agreed to the terms and conditions laid out in the contract.
What’s Next? Before you finalize the contents of this agreement, we strongly advise you to have the final contract vetted by a registered legal practitioner in your area. Preferably, consult a lawyer who is well-versed in labor or employment law!
Why Choose This Template…
Our team spent hours on research, drafting, and formatting – all so you can quickly streamline the intern hiring process for your company. Here are three good reasons why you should choose and customize this template, and not formulate a new one from scratch.
This template is….
- Customizable – easy to tailor for different departments, working schedules, intern roles, compensation structures, etc.
- Accessible – no need to pay costly lawyer fees or engage in-house legal teams
- Printable – quick & simple to download, print, and file for record-keeping
Who Is This Template For?
- Employers or companies offering internship opportunities
- HR departments managing internship programs
- Interns who want to understand their rights and duties
- Universities or career services that help students secure internships
- School career counselling, looking to familiarize high school students with internship programs
You Might Also Be Interested In…
- Employment Contract Template
- At Will Employment Contract
- New Hire Checklist
- Temporary Employment Contract
To Sum Up
A clear, standardized template ensures compliance with labor laws while also helping employers build trust and establish a professional reputation with educational institutions. It also provides a reliable framework for talent planning and resource allocation, while protecting both parties against risks such as unclear responsibilities, miscommunication about terms, legal disputes, or breaches of confidentiality and intellectual property rules.
In short, this contractual framework serves as both a legal safeguard and a practical tool for establishing productive, honest, transparent, and mutually beneficial internship arrangements.
