"That is what the US Department of Labor is saying to everyone and anyone who wants to get their foot in the door.  You are SOL. There is no such thing as an unpaid intern anymore.  Our government at its finest.

This is what our HR person, who his supersmart and really knows his stuff came back with

“The law says that interns have to be paid unless they are perfoming work that is of no value to the organization; ie., helps them in some way but we get no benefit from their work.  Thus we would have to create work that is useless to us  if we choose not to pay them.  How silly is that? “ "