Mary-Kate and Ashley and the case of the unhappy, unpaid interns

(Image credit: Robin Marchant/Getty Images)

published 11 August 2015

A former design intern for Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen has filed a class-action lawsuit against the twins' company, Dualstar Entertainment Group, for failing to pay 40 past and present interns despite long hours and difficult work. “You're like an employee, except you're not getting paid," said lead plaintiff Shahista Lalani, who interned for the Olsens in 2012. "They're kind of mean to you. Other interns have cried. I'd see lots of kids crying doing coffee runs, photocopying stuff." Lalani claims that she went to the hospital for dehydration at one point during her stint as an intern.

The suit alleges that interns were doing the same work as paid employees, and that interns were not offered money or college credits in exchange for 50-hour workweeks. A spokeswoman for Dualstar declined to comment on the suit to the New York Daily News. The twins' company, which they founded when they were six years old, makes clothes, books, videos, and cosmetics.