(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Being a gig worker is not confined to people who drive Ubers or deliver sandwiches.
So says a law professor at the University of Illinois.
“For the first half of my career, my law students went to traditional jobs. A growing number (now) is what they call ‘contract lawyers,” says Michael LeRoy, who specializes in labor and employment law.
“They’ll be hired by a law firm to work on a case or a brief or a project that’s finite in time. That’s what makes it a gig.”
He said many law grads would prefer to have full-time jobs with firms.
“I’ve got former law students who tend bar and write briefs,” Le Roy said.
Things might improve the plight of gig workers if the independent contractors were allowed to organize. Such a proposal passed the U.S. House in 2020 but was not taken up in the Senate, he noted.
