Came across this, linked to a NYTimes article on unpaid internships. Legally there are 6 standards that have to be met for a firm to claim you can be an unpaid intern:

The definition of “employee” is very broad under the FLSA, but persons who, without any express or implied compensation agreement, work for their own advantage on the premises of another may not be employees. Workers who receive work-based training may fall into this category and may not be employees for purposes of the FLSA. The 8 specific facts and circumstances of the worker’s activities must be analyzed to determine
if the worker is a bona fide “trainee” who is not subject to the FLSA or an “employee” who may be subject to the FLSA. The employer is responsible for complying with the FLSA and participation in a subsidized work-based training initiative for unemployed workers as described in this guidance does not relieve the employer of this responsibility. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) has developed the six factors below to evaluate whether a worker is a trainee or an employee for purposes of the FLSA:

1. The training, even though it includes actual operation of the facilities of the employer, is similar to what would be given in a vocational school or academic educational instruction;
2. The training is for the benefit of the trainees;
3. The trainees do not displace regular employees, but work under their close observation;
4. The employer that provides the training derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the trainees, and on occasion the employer’s operations may actually be impeded;
5. The trainees are not necessarily entitled to a job at the conclusion of the training period; and
6. The employer and the trainees understand that the trainees are not entitled to wages for the time spent in training.


What it boils down to is that if an office gets any benefit from having you there, they have to pay you. I know this is a touch subject and has been gone over many many times on this site especially as we head into summer internship season, but I thought I'd throw out the official guidelines anyway.