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Comment by parque | Hacker News Reader

It would be illegal if I work AND get payed. The whole point is not really about this. I'm doing this just so I can get to know and work first hand with a bunch of awesome entrepreneurs and also visit places that I haven't been before!

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  It would be illegal if I work AND get payed

No, minimum wage laws still apply; Federal law offers a baseline while many states have a higher threshold.

Can you explain how what OP's proposing is any different from bartering? What makes wage laws apply, other than OP's perhaps not their primary language word choice? I'm genuinely curious, because it sounds like an entirely reasonable request to me - but I'm no lawyer.

You can't "barter" labor, either. Allowing it would leave room for a return of a lot of abuse, especially in the hospitality industry (e.g. jobs that elicit substantial tips, like a cocktail waitress in a resort).

Whatever you think of their effect on what the OP wants to do, such laws are well-intended and are a response to a legacy of past such abuses.

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