The term “primary beneficiary” is arguably the single most important term that governs the activities of Connect Central Oregon. It’s vital that our staff, interns, partners, and clients understand how we define and use it in every interaction.
The primary beneficiary for Connect Central Oregon is the student/intern.
We’ll come back to our definition below, but there are two common interpretations of the term used in commerce and education:
Courts have used the “primary beneficiary test” to determine whether an intern or student is, in fact, an employee under the FLSA. In short, this test allows courts to examine the “economic reality” of the intern-employer relationship to determine which party is the “primary beneficiary” of the relationship.
A primary beneficiary is an individual or organization who is first in line to receive benefits in a will, trust, retirement account, life insurance policy, or annuity upon the account or trust holder's death. An individual can name multiple primary beneficiaries and stipulate how distributions would be allocated.