I am interested to hear from anyone who has experience in hiring interns in New York.   I have been asked to look into this as a possibility.  The idea is that this would be unpaid.  I am aware that there are stringent requirements in New York relating to the provision of unpaid internships that most employers find difficult to meet.  The same does, of course, apply in the UK - however, as we know, there is a gap between the requirements of the minimum wage legislation and what happens in reality and a large number of employers here seem to ignore the legislation without any apparent trouble. 

My previous employer's New York office also successfully ignored the  requirements of Federal and  NewYork Labor law in relation to internships (although they limited the time anyone could spend with them to one week).   So I am wondering if anyone knows what the actual risks might be in the event that one falls foul of the local laws on fair wages. 

The proposed scheme which has been put to me involves providing 1 month placements, payment of travel expenses and a small per diem in exchange for working in a well-respected and successful creative business.  Generally, people are rather keen to work for companies like ours so there would be a benefit to the intern (getting to know how we operate, getting themselves known by senior people in the business for future job opportunities etc.).  I would stress that my absolute preference is to operate within the law and to pay them an hourly rate (this would also protect us in case they create any usable IP) and this is what I will advise the business to do, but I don't want my first interaction with this particular office to be a straight "no" without knowing the actual reality on the ground, if it somewhat differs from what is written down in law (in case they come back saying "but all of our competitors do it...). In other words, I need "real" information and (hopefully) some ammunition to go back to them with!  Thanks in advance.