Litigators frequently work on contingency- so they work for 'free' for the litigant, in exchange for a healthy percentage (a third or higher) of any settlement.

Litigators frequently work on contingency- so they work for 'free' for the litigant, in exchange for a healthy percentage (a third or higher) of any settlement. This is without including the actual government, where an employee may say that they were discriminated against somehow, and then the relevant government agency investigates everything under the sun looking for violations. For example they could allege that they were not provided their California-required lunch break, so then a nosy, hostile agency launches a huge investigation starting with lunch policies, and including anything else they find. I agree it's a complete snowball! It's absurd :) And, it's reality- this is how litigation & workplace regulation in America works. For example depositions are so crazy, not only can you be deposed as a party in a lawsuit, you could be deposed for extra information even if you're not the one being sued (i.e. you're in a related industry as someone in a lawsuit, so the court compels you to a deposition just to talk about the industry, what's standard there, etc.)