Legal Question in Employment Law in California

Re: internship duties

It sounds like they are trying to take advantage of you. You cannot be an unpaid volunteer or intern for a private company. Only for a public agency. If you are a full-time student at an institution of learning, they could employ a small number of such "interns" at a special "sub-minimum wage", but there are a lot of hoops they have to jump through, including you have to get a special permit from the US Department of Labor.

Basically, not only should you not do free janitorial work, you should do no free work at all. Tell them if they don't offer you a proper, paid job, you will report them to the US Dept. of Labor and the California Labor Board. You won't be the most popular new employee, but you will mind janitorial work less if you are getting paid.

A private for-profit company could have unpaid "interns", but they would basically just have to be there to observe, and can perform no duties at all. So, not only should you not agree to be a janitor, but you should insist on doing nothing but watching and learning.

Re: internship duties

One more thing. Don't jump the gun about demanding a paid job and threatening to report them. Only if they have been requiring you to do work of any kind. If this is the first work they have asked you to do, just refuse to do it unless they pay you. Otherwise just be an observer. Or, you could go ahead and do some work, keep track of your time, and then demand pay for it at minimum wage when you are done.