There's a really good ('selfish') reason to properly put interns on payroll. A tech company that has an unpaid intern working on something 'useful' - like writi

There's a really good ('selfish') reason to properly put interns on payroll. A tech company that has an unpaid intern working on something 'useful' - like writing code - is in a terrible position. If the intern is ignorant, sure no problem. But what if that code makes it into a shipping product, or some other asset that's sold? And suddenly that person feels like they were screwed over because they were not paid? Or what if they get hurt at work, or are harassed and want to bring suit? Its already a risk with proper employees on payroll but at least you have insurances for that. Or perals - they file for unemployment and put your company down as their last employer with $0 pay. (Have any of you had to -really- deal with your local DoL? You'll -wish- it was the IRS!) This is a very bad position to be in. Isn't $10/hr worth it to avoid these problems?