CBS and David Letterman were hit with a lawsuit by an intern claiming she worked an unpaid 40-hour or more workweek, performing the duties for which other employees were paid with full-time salaries and benefits.

Mallory Musallam, 26, accuses the studio and Letterman's Worldwide Pants production company for violating minimum wage and overtime laws. The lawsuit is class-action and retroactive, applying to every intern working for the two companies going back six years.

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Unpaided internships became a runaway phenomemon after the Tech Bust of 2001, and several companies continue the practice even after they returned to profitability. Many call the practice exploitation.

According to Musallam, she "helped research celebrity guests, dubbed videos, worked on a telephone switchboard, acquired integral information for show content, and helped with any other research-related tasks."

It is very possible CBS and Worldwide Pants are on the wrong side of history: In 2013, a federal judge in New York ruled that unpaid internships for college students violated minimum wage laws. In that case, Eric Glatt and Alexander Footman sued Fox Searchlight Pictures for work they did that was comparative to fully paid employees.

"Undoubtedly Mr. Glatt and Mr. Footman received some benefits from their internships, such as resume listings, job references and an understanding of how a production office works," wrote US District Judge William H. Pauley.

"But," he continued, "those benefits were incidental to working in the office like any other employee and were not the result of internships intentionally structured to benefit them."

Lawyers for CBS and Worldwide Pants are seeking to dismiss Musallam's suit.

"This lawsuit is part of a nationwide trend of class action lawyers attacking internship opportunities provided by companies in the media and entertainment industry," a CBS spokesman said in a statement.

"We pride ourselves on providing valuable internship experiences, and we take seriously all of our obligations under relevant labor and employment laws. We intend to vigorously defend against the claims."

TagsCBS, David Letterman, Worldwide Pants, Mallory Musallam, Lawsuit