Over the years, I think I've become allergic to engineering employers. I held an electrical engineering job for over 25 years, and was laid off in November of 2014. I have plenty of cash and investments, plus rental income, I could FIRE if I wanted to, but I still feel a duty to contribute to society, so I'm still looking for work, and thinking about starting a consulting business. For the last 10 years of my career I became more educated about American employment law, and it has started to nauseate me. The things I don't like are:
1. Employment at will: America is the exception. The rest of the developed world uses the doctrine of "Just Cause"
2. Pre-dispute arbitration. Employers make you sign away your rights to sue in court and use an arbitrator that they select.
3. Non-compete clauses. (Not a problem in California, where I live, but if I decide to move, it could be a big issue.
These 3 things make me wary of ever becoming a W2 employee again. The problem is, no employers will give up these things to an individual. If I were to become a 1099 consultant,
the only things I've seen are non-disclosure agreements, but there may also be pre-dispute arbitration contracts as well. Are there any 1099 consultants on this board which can share
the types of contracts that they were persuaded to sign?