A 21-year-old socialist and former unpaid New York City Council intern, who says she was dismissed after pushing for interns to receive $32 an hour and full health benefits — and who is planning legal action against the Council — comes from an affluent background.
Mina Farahmand, who volunteered without pay last year while supporting fellow socialist Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral campaign, is the daughter of a well-known surgeon and was raised in a sprawling six-bedroom, four-and-a-half-bathroom home set on 30 acres in Colville, Washington.
Her father, Mehrdad Farahmand, works as a general-surgery specialist at Providence, Washington State’s largest health care provider. While his exact compensation is not publicly listed, a current Providence posting for a general surgeon advertises annual pay ranging from $457,269 to $555,423.
Mehrdad Farahmand also owns an undeveloped 5.5-acre parcel roughly 10 miles away in Kettle Falls, Washington, bringing the family’s publicly identified real estate holdings to nearly $1 million.
Mina Farahmand drew national attention last month after losing her unpaid legislative internship with Councilman Harvey Epstein, a Manhattan Democrat.
The recent New York University graduate and Democratic Socialists of America member said her firing was retaliation for leading a petition drive calling on Council Speaker Julie Menin to create a fund guaranteeing Council interns “a living wage” of $32 per hour — almost twice New York City’s $17 minimum wage — along with health benefits.
Her demand quickly drew criticism from opponents who pointed to her privileged upbringing.
“This is just another nepo-baby agitator who signed up for an unpaid internship, then demanded to be paid after the fact,” former Councilman Robert Holden, a moderate Democrat, said after learning about Farahmand’s affluent background.
“We don’t need activists looking to create controversy. We need people who understand that public service starts with honoring the commitment you made.”
Farahmand’s internship started May 19 and was supposed to run through July.
Epstein insisted to City & State last week that his former intern was not canned over her organizing efforts and that the decision was instead “performance related.”
Farahmand on Tuesday vowed that she and other interns who signed the petition would sue the Council after it approved a new city budget that didn’t include funds to meet their pay demands.
“NYC Council’s budget . . . confirms they believe Council interns deserve to be unpaid,” Farahmand said on X. “We’ve already told them how we’ve gone hungry. Now we’re suing them for wages.”
As of Friday, the Council had not been served with a lawsuit.
Although some Council interns are paid, others work strictly for college credit.
Menin, who declined to comment, has previously said she’s always paid her interns and that determining intern pay is up to each Council member.
Farahmand said, “We are suing the City of New York for wages because all interns deserve to be paid, and virtually all New York City Council unpaid internships, including mine, are illegal under the primary beneficiary test in the Fair Labor Standards Act.”
