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You don't need to spend a lot of time on social media or watching the news or reading
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the papers to recognize that something is seriously off in the workforce today.
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Employee engagement is down to satisfaction as up trust is almost nonexistent.
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Workers feel overwhelmed and underappreciated and burned out and job seekers feel ignored
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and disrespected.
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And one thing seems to be the scapegoat for just about all of it, and that's AI.
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But the very same tech that employers are blaming for all the ills of the work-a-day world
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from layoffs to on-the-job stress is the same tech they're hailing as their new bestie.
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I mean, they paint beautiful pictures of the day when you and your AI agent co-workers
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will join hands and sing kumbaya and create a more efficient and profitable tomorrow for
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everyone.
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But what's the truth?
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I mean, if you're a worker in 2026 or if you're looking for work in 2026, is AI your
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AI or your enemy?
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Well, the answer is probably a little bit of both.
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But there are a couple of class action lawsuits targeting work tech providers that are winding
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their way through the legal system right now, and I think it's a sign that finally workers
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are reclaiming some of their rights.
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And while there's a lot of finger pointing going on behind the scenes, employers and the
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HR teams who support them are totally missing the real story.
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Call it the great rehumanization, call it the algorithm backlash, or if you're a nerd
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like me, call it the employee, strike back.
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No matter what you call it, something big is going on in the world of work.
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So stick around while we bring you up to speed and tell you how things might just change
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for the better for you and for everyone involved.
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Hey folks, Mark here with the rational workforce.
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Your favorite bullshit detector and personal Sherpa when it comes to all things work.
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Now today's episode is a good one because things are getting kind of spicy out there and
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I'm loving it.
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You might too.
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Now look, companies are getting sued pretty much every day and the larger the company,
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the more numerous the lawsuits, right?
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Sometimes it's just a grifter who wants a little piece of the action, hoping for a quick
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settlement and a nice payday to go along with it.
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And sometimes things are a little more serious and it hits at larger problems, something
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that's a bit harder for the company to deflect and that's the case with the two pieces
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of legal action we're going to be talking about today.
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Now the first one is Mobly versus Workday and that's a case that was originally filed
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like back in 2023 at the US District Court in California.
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Now in this case Derek Mobly, a black man over 40 with the disability, asserted that
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Workday's AI-powered applicant tracking system is systematically discriminating against
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job applicants based on protected characteristics, most predominantly in this case people over
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40.
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Now in this case Mr. Mobly claims to have applied to over 100 jobs through companies using
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the Workday platform and was rejected every time.
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Sometimes those rejections came back within just hours and sometimes it was even outside
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of the normal operating hours of the business and all of that just kind of screams that
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no human whatsoever was involved in this evaluation process.
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And I mean let's face it, that's nothing new, employers have been using ATS systems for
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a long long time.
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Any job seeker who's thrown their hat into the ring for a new gig at any point during
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the past decade or so has probably felt the sting of that instant dear John Letter and
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that's to say if they even hear back from the employer at all.
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But now that you throw AI into the mix and all of the black box mystery logic that comes
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along with it, there's an opportunity for a new ghost in the machine to enter the equation.
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So let's just pause for a second and take a break and talk quickly about how these types
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of AI systems work.
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Now in the most basic terms and broadest strokes, AI systems are like any other worker, meaning
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they need to be trained, they need to be told the rules of the road and they need to be
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instructed on how to do their job.
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And like any other worker, when things go sideways, it's often due to one of three things.
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They either haven't been trained or instructed properly, they're doing a job, they're not
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really well suited for or they're acting out of malice.
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And what can sometimes be the case with things of AI, all three could be true at once.
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Okay, back to the work they suit.
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About 2023 and 2024, there were multiple attempts made to dismiss this suit, to kill it
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before it ever as a chance to see the light of the day.
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But in July of 2024, a dodge allowed that it should move forward and that means that
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workday could potentially be held liable as an agent of employers.
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Now that means that despite workday's denial that it's at fault and that employers make
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the final hiring decision, not their tool, this is where the stickiness happens and the
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suit keeps moving forward.
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In May of 2025, a judge granted conditional certification for the age discrimination
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claims to proceed as a nationwide collective action under the age discrimination in
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Employment Act.
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And later in that same year, the collective was expanded even more to include applicants
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who were processed by a workday's hired score AI features.
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And this opens the door for anyone over the age of 40 who applied to jobs that use a system
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to join in the suit.
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And that could be a lot of people.
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Now at the time of this recording in early February 2026, workday has viled yet another
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motion to dismiss.
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But so far, it's still an open and ongoing case.
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Now if that wasn't enough, yet another work tech AI related case is starting to weave
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its way through the courts and the implications could be just as big.
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On January 20th, 2026, as a few weeks prior to this recording, a new proposed class action
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lawsuit was brought against yet another work tech provider, this time eightfold AI.
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Now think of eightfold as a talent intelligence platform, a sort of digital scorekeeper on
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a candidate's likelihood to be a good fit for any particular role.
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They do a boatload of other things as a company, but that scorekeeping piece is kind of what
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central to the conversation we're having right now.
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Now according to the suit, eightfold AI's engine generates profiles based on sources beyond
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what applicants submit to a prospective employer.
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So they look at things like LinkedIn profiles and social media activity and internet activity
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and stuff like that.
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Now once it collects that data, it gives a score on the likelihood of that candidate
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to be successful within any given role.
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And that report can include traits such as are they a team player or not, are they an
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introvert, are they an extrovert, other qualities like that.
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I mean, it sounds cool, but what if there's some bad info out there that creeps into the
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evaluation and pulls down your score or prevents you from even being considered for a job?
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And that question is at the heart of this new lawsuit.
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Now the two plaintiffs, both women with very strong STEM backgrounds, say they were repeatedly
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rejected for roles that were highly qualified for them at companies that are using eightfold.
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Now part of what they're claiming is that in this capacity, eightfold is acting like
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a consumer credit rating agency and as such should be held to the tenants of the Fair
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Credit Reporting Act.
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So that means that candidates need to receive notice that this report is being generated
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about them.
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They need to be given access to view that report and they need to have an opportunity
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to dispute inaccuracies or errors or otherwise handled things like that.
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Now we're really early days into this lawsuit, but the case is seeking nationwide class
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action certification as well.
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And that would mean that all US job seekers who have been evaluated by these tools could
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potentially jump on board.
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And this is a really big deal for a couple of reasons.
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Now of course this could be a huge win for job seekers.
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If their smoke behind the fire on these cases and systemic algorithmic bias does exist,
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removal of those barriers could result in more callbacks, more interviews and a fairer
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shake at scoring that killer job that you've been looking for.
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But for employers, these tech providers and the ecosystem of companies that help install
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and configure these systems, plus the HR teams who hone them all, the ripple effect is going
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to be massive.
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Now given that these and a few other similar cases are still pending, unsurprisingly, there's
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a lot of blame game going on.
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So the tech companies are saying their systems only make recommendations, but the employers
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ultimately make the hiring decision, so hey, this is not me.
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Employers are saying, yeah, that's true, but we rely on your software to make those decisions.
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You're supposed to make it easier to separate the wheat from the chaff.
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Plus we already have all these rules against bias and that sort of thing.
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So if any, you're a fault, maybe it's the people who installed it.
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The people who installed it, implementation partners, they're saying things like, look
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pal, we get their attack and we set it up to do its job based on the rules that you give
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us.
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Plus you got to sign off on this thing before it goes live.
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So hey, that's not on us, that's on you.
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And round and round and round it goes.
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But while everyone on the surface is pointing fingers at each other, the real pressure is
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building up somewhere else entirely.
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And if you get pretty uncomfortable far, HR teams and the HR technology communities
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for a couple of reasons, at the top of this list is fear of the unknown.
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Regulatory compliance and hidden bias and stuff like that represents the eternal boogie
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man for these teams.
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The scary monster hiding in the closet are under the bed that's ready to spring out and
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create problems at a moment's notice.
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Now violating these policies not only invite fines and litigation and greater scrutiny
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and oversight and stuff like that, it damages their brand.
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And that makes a really big difference when they're trying to attract talent, especially
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during times when jobs are more plentiful and candidates can be more selective.
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Now the second and potentially even bigger issue is that these cases represent yet another
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area where AI is creating headaches for the one department that's supposed to be all
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about people.
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I mean the word human is literally in the job description, right?
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So every vendor in the space is shouting from the rooftops about AI this and AI that
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plus the fear of getting left behind is driving leadership of these companies to place extraordinary
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pressure on the entire organization not just HR teams to adopt AI tools.
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Even if they don't quite know how to use them or where they have a best fit.
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And this can have a chilling effect on the market, meaning employers will become extra
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picky and extra cautious when they're making purchasing decisions.
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And all of that is important and kind of expected, but over and above it, I think it's going
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to drive a real awakening and a real reckoning for HR pros in general.
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Now the profession stands toward AI as always in my opinion, skewed anti-worker or at the
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very least anti-candidate.
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I mean employers think it's great to use tools like those ATS systems to weed out resumes
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of workers who might not be a good fit for the role, but they also lament the fact that
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workers are now using AI to rewrite their resumes and cover letters to make sure they're
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hitting all the right keywords in the job description.
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The latest crisis doger is that candidates are using chat GPT or cloud or perplexity
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or any of the other AI platforms to answer questions while being interviewed.
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All right, fair enough, but there's a better-than-average chance that the person from HR running
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the interview used AI to create the questions in the first place.
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So they can use tools to screen candidates at scale, but you're not supposed to use tools
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that will help you bulk apply and while you get the drill.
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So as the industry collectively holds its breath waiting to see who gets stuck holding
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the bag on these big thorny issues, the biggest story is going on and they're not even paying
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attention.
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And that's it, I think these lawsuits are a way for workers to reassert their humanity
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and agency in a world where such things have been in pretty short supply for quite some
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time.
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Let me think about it.
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Between January 2025 and January 2026, more than 1.3 million job cuts were reported.
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Millions of Americans lost their job in just over a year and that's a staggering number.
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Now, when you're talking about big numbers like this, it can feel like an abstraction, right?
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So let's put the macro away and let's drill down to the micro and I ask you this.
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How many people in your personal network have been laid off?
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And of those people, how many have been laid off despite having positive performance reviews
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or years of service to their employer or any of the other hallmarks of so-called job security?
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Now, if you're like most people, you probably know at least a few in that situation or maybe
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you're even in that situation yourself.
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And if that's the case, you've probably bumped your head against some of the issues that
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these new pieces of legal action are addressing.
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Even for a job that you're very much qualified to do, but you hear nothing back.
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Or out of desperation and trying to play the law of averages, you apply to hundreds of
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jobs in the hopes that you'll score at least one decent interview because no one seems
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to be doing that.
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Or if you're lucky enough to get that interview scheduled, you get ghosted by the recruiter.
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And this one really pisses me off and I've been hearing so much about it lately.
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I mean, on what planet is it okay to get somebody's hopes up to schedule that interview and
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then just disappear?
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I just, I don't get it.
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And while we're talking about ghosts, let's talk about ghost job postings, reports indicate
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that anywhere from 20 to 30% of posted jobs are phantoms, they're not even real, they're
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not positions that are available.
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So if you're in the job market and you feel like the decks are kind of stacked against you,
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honestly, it's because they are.
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But if you're blessed enough to remain employed, you're probably feeling burnt out because
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you're absorbing the workload of recently departed friends and you're trying to make
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sense of all this AI stuff and you're trying to make ends meet in a crazy economy and you
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just have a lot on your plate and it can feel like your employers couldn't care less.
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So when I see legal action like this pop up, I see it is a bit more than just people
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holding tech tools accountable for what they're going through.
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I see these as a not so subtle reminder to corporations and businesses that workers
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are human and should be treated as such.
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It's a natural, maybe even a rational way of the market signalling, hey enough is enough.
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Now on the other side of this, when all the dust settles and all the smoke clears, employers
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may find that any of the changes that might come out of this legal action will actually
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benefit them in the long run.
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Treating workers with a little more consideration might just put the brakes on employee engagement
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slides and reverse those disrespect numbers and make people actually want to invest more
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themselves into their work.
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I mean, it could ultimately benefit the companies.
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But if they ignore it, if they go back to the same old same old and these tech vendors
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win all their legal battles, I think it's going to be pretty out there for employers.
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I see right now employers are in a position of power, I guarantee that.
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They're caught up in the AI arms race or they're enraptured by the promises of AI efficiency
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gains that will allow them to do more with less and that's driving a lot of the activities
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that you see today.
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But it's not always going to be that way.
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In fact, we've seen several companies that banked on AI taking the place of multiple
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humans now go back and start hiring once again because those efficiency gains just never
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materialized.
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And go back and look through the headlines, Klarna, IBM, Duolingo have all quietly started
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rehiring and they're just the beginning.
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And when they go to rehire those employees, some of them are finding employees out there
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to be at.
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I mean, lots of people impacted by layoffs are simply opting out of the traditional employment
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route and people who want a better way of life are actively removing themselves and handing
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in their notices so they can follow suit.
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Let this sink in.
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US business applications hit record levels in 2025 signaling a boom in entrepreneurship.
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And that includes 535,000 new applications in November 2025 alone.
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All told, self-employment reached a record 16.77 million in 2025.
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And we dig down into those stats a little more and we learn that 63% of people chose this
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path voluntarily.
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59% are earning more than they did in their traditional roles and 40% view this way of life
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as less risky than working full-time for someone else.
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And on top of that, web hosting company Hostinger reported that 55% of full-time workers
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have expressed an interest in turning their hobbies into businesses.
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And while large employers wrestle with how and where to implement AI within their companies,
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many departments and entrepreneurs are figuring it out in their own with AI tools reducing
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startup costs by 70 to 90%.
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So the next time employers find themselves looking for talent to add to the payroll, that
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talent might not be there for the taking.
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But they'll probably be there for contract work at a premium and good for you.
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So that dear friends is how the employee strikes back.
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If you're out there looking for work or you're in a tough situation where you're working
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today, I wanted you to know that there are some amazing options that are starting to open
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up out there.
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And I know going your own route can be scary.
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I know it can be tough to take that leap, believe me.
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I did it seven years ago right before COVID, so I know how tough and scary it can be.
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But the rewarding piece of it, the other side of that fear can just be unimaginably good.
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So if you're someone who's taken that leap or if you're thinking about it, man, I'd love
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to hear your story.
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Drop me a note in the comments section below if you'd like to share it with the community
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or drop me an email.
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And if you're up for it, we might just record you and we'll do a whole separate segment
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on the channel just about you and your experience.
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I think the more we talk about things like this, the better off we're all going to be.
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And I'm always down to hear about your job search, horror stories or corporate shenanigans
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or anything else that you want to get off your chest in this crazy world of work.
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Just hit me up at mark at the rational workforce.com and let me know we'll figure something out.
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And finally, if you like what you saw, give us a like, click subscribe, ring the bell,
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do all the things to help us keep the channel growing and tracking more of the content
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that impacts you and your world of work.
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With that, we're going to sign off for today.
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Thank you so much for tuning in.
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We'll catch you on the next one.
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Have a good one.
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You don't need to spend a lot of time on social media or watching the news or reading
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the papers to recognize that something is seriously off in the workforce today.
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Employee engagement is down to satisfaction as up trust is almost nonexistent.
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Workers feel overwhelmed and underappreciated and burned out and job seekers feel ignored
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and disrespected.
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And one thing seems to be the scapegoat for just about all of it, and that's AI.
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But the very same tech that employers are blaming for all the ills of the work-a-day world
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from layoffs to on-the-job stress is the same tech they're hailing as their new bestie.
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I mean, they paint beautiful pictures of the day when you and your AI agent co-workers
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will join hands and sing kumbaya and create a more efficient and profitable tomorrow for
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everyone.
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But what's the truth?
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I mean, if you're a worker in 2026 or if you're looking for work in 2026, is AI your
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AI or your enemy?
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Well, the answer is probably a little bit of both.
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But there are a couple of class action lawsuits targeting work tech providers that are winding
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their way through the legal system right now, and I think it's a sign that finally workers
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are reclaiming some of their rights.
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And while there's a lot of finger pointing going on behind the scenes, employers and the
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HR teams who support them are totally missing the real story.
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Call it the great rehumanization, call it the algorithm backlash, or if you're a nerd
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like me, call it the employee, strike back.
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No matter what you call it, something big is going on in the world of work.
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So stick around while we bring you up to speed and tell you how things might just change
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for the better for you and for everyone involved.
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Hey folks, Mark here with the rational workforce.
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Your favorite bullshit detector and personal Sherpa when it comes to all things work.
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Now today's episode is a good one because things are getting kind of spicy out there and
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I'm loving it.
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You might too.
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Now look, companies are getting sued pretty much every day and the larger the company,
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the more numerous the lawsuits, right?
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Sometimes it's just a grifter who wants a little piece of the action, hoping for a quick
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settlement and a nice payday to go along with it.
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And sometimes things are a little more serious and it hits at larger problems, something
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that's a bit harder for the company to deflect and that's the case with the two pieces
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of legal action we're going to be talking about today.
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Now the first one is Mobly versus Workday and that's a case that was originally filed
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like back in 2023 at the US District Court in California.
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Now in this case Derek Mobly, a black man over 40 with the disability, asserted that
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Workday's AI-powered applicant tracking system is systematically discriminating against
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job applicants based on protected characteristics, most predominantly in this case people over
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40.
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Now in this case Mr. Mobly claims to have applied to over 100 jobs through companies using
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the Workday platform and was rejected every time.
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Sometimes those rejections came back within just hours and sometimes it was even outside
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of the normal operating hours of the business and all of that just kind of screams that
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no human whatsoever was involved in this evaluation process.
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And I mean let's face it, that's nothing new, employers have been using ATS systems for
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a long long time.
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Any job seeker who's thrown their hat into the ring for a new gig at any point during
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the past decade or so has probably felt the sting of that instant dear John Letter and
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that's to say if they even hear back from the employer at all.
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But now that you throw AI into the mix and all of the black box mystery logic that comes
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along with it, there's an opportunity for a new ghost in the machine to enter the equation.
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So let's just pause for a second and take a break and talk quickly about how these types
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of AI systems work.
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Now in the most basic terms and broadest strokes, AI systems are like any other worker, meaning
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they need to be trained, they need to be told the rules of the road and they need to be
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instructed on how to do their job.
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And like any other worker, when things go sideways, it's often due to one of three things.
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They either haven't been trained or instructed properly, they're doing a job, they're not
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really well suited for or they're acting out of malice.
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And what can sometimes be the case with things of AI, all three could be true at once.
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Okay, back to the work they suit.
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About 2023 and 2024, there were multiple attempts made to dismiss this suit, to kill it
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before it ever as a chance to see the light of the day.
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But in July of 2024, a dodge allowed that it should move forward and that means that
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workday could potentially be held liable as an agent of employers.
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Now that means that despite workday's denial that it's at fault and that employers make
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the final hiring decision, not their tool, this is where the stickiness happens and the
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suit keeps moving forward.
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In May of 2025, a judge granted conditional certification for the age discrimination
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claims to proceed as a nationwide collective action under the age discrimination in
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Employment Act.
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And later in that same year, the collective was expanded even more to include applicants
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who were processed by a workday's hired score AI features.
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And this opens the door for anyone over the age of 40 who applied to jobs that use a system
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to join in the suit.
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And that could be a lot of people.
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Now at the time of this recording in early February 2026, workday has viled yet another
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motion to dismiss.
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But so far, it's still an open and ongoing case.
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Now if that wasn't enough, yet another work tech AI related case is starting to weave
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its way through the courts and the implications could be just as big.
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On January 20th, 2026, as a few weeks prior to this recording, a new proposed class action
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lawsuit was brought against yet another work tech provider, this time eightfold AI.
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Now think of eightfold as a talent intelligence platform, a sort of digital scorekeeper on
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a candidate's likelihood to be a good fit for any particular role.
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They do a boatload of other things as a company, but that scorekeeping piece is kind of what
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central to the conversation we're having right now.
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Now according to the suit, eightfold AI's engine generates profiles based on sources beyond
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what applicants submit to a prospective employer.
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So they look at things like LinkedIn profiles and social media activity and internet activity
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and stuff like that.
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Now once it collects that data, it gives a score on the likelihood of that candidate
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to be successful within any given role.
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And that report can include traits such as are they a team player or not, are they an
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introvert, are they an extrovert, other qualities like that.
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I mean, it sounds cool, but what if there's some bad info out there that creeps into the
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evaluation and pulls down your score or prevents you from even being considered for a job?
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And that question is at the heart of this new lawsuit.
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Now the two plaintiffs, both women with very strong STEM backgrounds, say they were repeatedly
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rejected for roles that were highly qualified for them at companies that are using eightfold.
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Now part of what they're claiming is that in this capacity, eightfold is acting like
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a consumer credit rating agency and as such should be held to the tenants of the Fair
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Credit Reporting Act.
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So that means that candidates need to receive notice that this report is being generated
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about them.
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They need to be given access to view that report and they need to have an opportunity
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to dispute inaccuracies or errors or otherwise handled things like that.
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Now we're really early days into this lawsuit, but the case is seeking nationwide class
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action certification as well.
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And that would mean that all US job seekers who have been evaluated by these tools could
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potentially jump on board.
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And this is a really big deal for a couple of reasons.
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Now of course this could be a huge win for job seekers.
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If their smoke behind the fire on these cases and systemic algorithmic bias does exist,
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removal of those barriers could result in more callbacks, more interviews and a fairer
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shake at scoring that killer job that you've been looking for.
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But for employers, these tech providers and the ecosystem of companies that help install
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and configure these systems, plus the HR teams who hone them all, the ripple effect is going
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to be massive.
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Now given that these and a few other similar cases are still pending, unsurprisingly, there's
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a lot of blame game going on.
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So the tech companies are saying their systems only make recommendations, but the employers
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ultimately make the hiring decision, so hey, this is not me.
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Employers are saying, yeah, that's true, but we rely on your software to make those decisions.
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You're supposed to make it easier to separate the wheat from the chaff.
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Plus we already have all these rules against bias and that sort of thing.
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So if any, you're a fault, maybe it's the people who installed it.
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The people who installed it, implementation partners, they're saying things like, look
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pal, we get their attack and we set it up to do its job based on the rules that you give
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us.
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Plus you got to sign off on this thing before it goes live.
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So hey, that's not on us, that's on you.
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And round and round and round it goes.
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But while everyone on the surface is pointing fingers at each other, the real pressure is
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building up somewhere else entirely.
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And if you get pretty uncomfortable far, HR teams and the HR technology communities
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for a couple of reasons, at the top of this list is fear of the unknown.
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Regulatory compliance and hidden bias and stuff like that represents the eternal boogie
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man for these teams.
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The scary monster hiding in the closet are under the bed that's ready to spring out and
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create problems at a moment's notice.
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Now violating these policies not only invite fines and litigation and greater scrutiny
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and oversight and stuff like that, it damages their brand.
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And that makes a really big difference when they're trying to attract talent, especially
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during times when jobs are more plentiful and candidates can be more selective.
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Now the second and potentially even bigger issue is that these cases represent yet another
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area where AI is creating headaches for the one department that's supposed to be all
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about people.
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I mean the word human is literally in the job description, right?
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So every vendor in the space is shouting from the rooftops about AI this and AI that
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plus the fear of getting left behind is driving leadership of these companies to place extraordinary
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pressure on the entire organization not just HR teams to adopt AI tools.
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Even if they don't quite know how to use them or where they have a best fit.
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And this can have a chilling effect on the market, meaning employers will become extra
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picky and extra cautious when they're making purchasing decisions.
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And all of that is important and kind of expected, but over and above it, I think it's going
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to drive a real awakening and a real reckoning for HR pros in general.
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Now the profession stands toward AI as always in my opinion, skewed anti-worker or at the
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very least anti-candidate.
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I mean employers think it's great to use tools like those ATS systems to weed out resumes
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of workers who might not be a good fit for the role, but they also lament the fact that
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workers are now using AI to rewrite their resumes and cover letters to make sure they're
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hitting all the right keywords in the job description.
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The latest crisis doger is that candidates are using chat GPT or cloud or perplexity
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or any of the other AI platforms to answer questions while being interviewed.
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All right, fair enough, but there's a better-than-average chance that the person from HR running
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the interview used AI to create the questions in the first place.
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So they can use tools to screen candidates at scale, but you're not supposed to use tools
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that will help you bulk apply and while you get the drill.
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So as the industry collectively holds its breath waiting to see who gets stuck holding
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the bag on these big thorny issues, the biggest story is going on and they're not even paying
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attention.
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And that's it, I think these lawsuits are a way for workers to reassert their humanity
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and agency in a world where such things have been in pretty short supply for quite some
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time.
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Let me think about it.
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Between January 2025 and January 2026, more than 1.3 million job cuts were reported.
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Millions of Americans lost their job in just over a year and that's a staggering number.
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Now, when you're talking about big numbers like this, it can feel like an abstraction, right?
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So let's put the macro away and let's drill down to the micro and I ask you this.
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How many people in your personal network have been laid off?
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And of those people, how many have been laid off despite having positive performance reviews
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or years of service to their employer or any of the other hallmarks of so-called job security?
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Now, if you're like most people, you probably know at least a few in that situation or maybe
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you're even in that situation yourself.
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And if that's the case, you've probably bumped your head against some of the issues that
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these new pieces of legal action are addressing.
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Even for a job that you're very much qualified to do, but you hear nothing back.
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Or out of desperation and trying to play the law of averages, you apply to hundreds of
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jobs in the hopes that you'll score at least one decent interview because no one seems
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to be doing that.
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Or if you're lucky enough to get that interview scheduled, you get ghosted by the recruiter.
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And this one really pisses me off and I've been hearing so much about it lately.
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I mean, on what planet is it okay to get somebody's hopes up to schedule that interview and
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then just disappear?
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I just, I don't get it.
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And while we're talking about ghosts, let's talk about ghost job postings, reports indicate
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that anywhere from 20 to 30% of posted jobs are phantoms, they're not even real, they're
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not positions that are available.
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So if you're in the job market and you feel like the decks are kind of stacked against you,
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honestly, it's because they are.
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But if you're blessed enough to remain employed, you're probably feeling burnt out because
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you're absorbing the workload of recently departed friends and you're trying to make
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sense of all this AI stuff and you're trying to make ends meet in a crazy economy and you
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just have a lot on your plate and it can feel like your employers couldn't care less.
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So when I see legal action like this pop up, I see it is a bit more than just people
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holding tech tools accountable for what they're going through.
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I see these as a not so subtle reminder to corporations and businesses that workers
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are human and should be treated as such.
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It's a natural, maybe even a rational way of the market signalling, hey enough is enough.
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Now on the other side of this, when all the dust settles and all the smoke clears, employers
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may find that any of the changes that might come out of this legal action will actually
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benefit them in the long run.
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Treating workers with a little more consideration might just put the brakes on employee engagement
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slides and reverse those disrespect numbers and make people actually want to invest more
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themselves into their work.
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I mean, it could ultimately benefit the companies.
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But if they ignore it, if they go back to the same old same old and these tech vendors
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win all their legal battles, I think it's going to be pretty out there for employers.
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I see right now employers are in a position of power, I guarantee that.
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They're caught up in the AI arms race or they're enraptured by the promises of AI efficiency
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gains that will allow them to do more with less and that's driving a lot of the activities
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that you see today.
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But it's not always going to be that way.
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In fact, we've seen several companies that banked on AI taking the place of multiple
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humans now go back and start hiring once again because those efficiency gains just never
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materialized.
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And go back and look through the headlines, Klarna, IBM, Duolingo have all quietly started
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rehiring and they're just the beginning.
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And when they go to rehire those employees, some of them are finding employees out there
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to be at.
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I mean, lots of people impacted by layoffs are simply opting out of the traditional employment
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route and people who want a better way of life are actively removing themselves and handing
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in their notices so they can follow suit.
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Let this sink in.
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US business applications hit record levels in 2025 signaling a boom in entrepreneurship.
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And that includes 535,000 new applications in November 2025 alone.
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All told, self-employment reached a record 16.77 million in 2025.
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And we dig down into those stats a little more and we learn that 63% of people chose this
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path voluntarily.
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59% are earning more than they did in their traditional roles and 40% view this way of life
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as less risky than working full-time for someone else.
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And on top of that, web hosting company Hostinger reported that 55% of full-time workers
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have expressed an interest in turning their hobbies into businesses.
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And while large employers wrestle with how and where to implement AI within their companies,
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many departments and entrepreneurs are figuring it out in their own with AI tools reducing
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startup costs by 70 to 90%.
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So the next time employers find themselves looking for talent to add to the payroll, that
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talent might not be there for the taking.
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But they'll probably be there for contract work at a premium and good for you.
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So that dear friends is how the employee strikes back.
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If you're out there looking for work or you're in a tough situation where you're working
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today, I wanted you to know that there are some amazing options that are starting to open
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up out there.
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And I know going your own route can be scary.
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I know it can be tough to take that leap, believe me.
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I did it seven years ago right before COVID, so I know how tough and scary it can be.
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But the rewarding piece of it, the other side of that fear can just be unimaginably good.
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So if you're someone who's taken that leap or if you're thinking about it, man, I'd love
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to hear your story.
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Drop me a note in the comments section below if you'd like to share it with the community
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or drop me an email.
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And if you're up for it, we might just record you and we'll do a whole separate segment
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on the channel just about you and your experience.
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I think the more we talk about things like this, the better off we're all going to be.
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And I'm always down to hear about your job search, horror stories or corporate shenanigans
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or anything else that you want to get off your chest in this crazy world of work.
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Just hit me up at mark at the rational workforce.com and let me know we'll figure something out.
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And finally, if you like what you saw, give us a like, click subscribe, ring the bell,
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do all the things to help us keep the channel growing and tracking more of the content
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that impacts you and your world of work.
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With that, we're going to sign off for today.
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Thank you so much for tuning in.
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We'll catch you on the next one.
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Have a good one.
