Well, if I could free-ride it, as you say it, why cannot others? It does not take much to find out what rights the labor movement etc. has won for us, if one has one's act together.
Dennis:
> How does that help really? All a consultation does is tell you how fucked
> you are and how much it will cost to get out of it.
It really depends on the case. You do not really need a legal representation in most employment related cases - which typically involves your employer challenging your UI claim after they sack you (since that increases their UI cost). Other cases maybe more complicated (sexual harassment, or violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act, for example), but you can get assistance from state agencies charged with investigating such cases, or use "legal clinics" run by the National Lawyer's Guild and various nonprofits. There are resources available - but you also need to have a case. Many people think they do, but they do not. Even if you get a "free" initial consultation, the attorney at least will tell you if you have a case - so that is an easy way of finding if it worth for you to pursue or just forget about it.
I had one situation like that, but not involving employment. I thought I had a case involving alleged religious discrimination against my kid at school - the kid was banned from an exchange program for saying that he would refuse to stay with a fundamentalist Christian family. I took one of those free initial consultations and was told not to pursue litigation. The attorney simply told me that he could take the case if I insisted (I was quite pissed and wanted to go after the ratfuckers), but he advised against it because of the case was basically weak.
Wojtek