On the Clock: What Low-Wage Work Did to Me and How It Drives America Insane

by Emily Guendelsberger

Businesses also save a ton of money by scheduling the absolute minimum number of workers to handle the predicted business.

And they save even more by scheduling slightly fewer people than can handle the predicted work at a reasonable pace.

This is one of those weird quirks of the US employment market. If a full-time employee is injured in the course of doing her job, she’s eligible for workers’ compensation—government-mandated employer coverage of medical costs and money to make up for injury-related lost wages. But freelancers, independent contractors, and seasonal or temp workers—like all of us here for orientation—are just out of luck.