People previously restricted by non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) have begun to speak out. Helena, the conflict-avoidant moderator of the Mercor subreddit, has found herself working extra hours to remove angry posts from disgruntled workers who are eager to reveal details about “secret projects”—a violation of the NDA that all independent contractors must sign before being hired.
Meanwhile, a project worker known as Handsome Swede faced challenges of his own. After contracting Covid, he informed his team leaders that he could not meet the minimum required hours and was promptly dismissed, forcing him to seek other opportunities.
The situation for contractors has deteriorated, with wages steadily declining. In early 2025, companies like Mercor, Handshake, Turing, Task-ify, and Outlier were offering $150 per hour for “experts” and $35 to $75 for “generalists.” By early 2026, the average hourly rate on Mercor’s platform had dropped to $105. However, industry searches revealed that experts were often earning only $50 per hour, while entry-level workers were paid as little as $16—below California’s minimum wage. Work contracts, now termed “sprints,” required rapid turnaround times, often lasting as short as 24 hours, emphasizing urgency to an exhausting degree.
Widespread burnout among contractors has led many to pursue legal action. Multiple lawsuits have claimed that Mercor is misclassifying its workforce as independent contractors. These complaints cite job demands like frequent onboarding, constant retraining, the requirement to check email and Slack multiple times daily, and the expectation to be available on short notice as indicators of actual employment. In contrast to traditional employees, independent contractors lack essential workplace protections, facing erratic scheduling, excessive workloads, insufficient breaks, and potential retaliation for voicing grievances.
Amid financial struggles, one worker expressed that they had not earned the projected $3,000 to $5,000 from a project titled “Project Dead Language” and found their bank account dwindling to around $14. In a state of desperation, they accepted invitations to participate in a large-scale project that paid $16 per hour and was nearing completion. This initiative employed thousands of annotators across various platforms to complete monotonous tasks. The atmosphere resembled a refugee camp that could meet basic needs but lacked comfort. After completing most of the required onboarding steps, the emphasis was clear in the provided literature: “The most important thing is to get on Slack.”
However, the worker could not find the Slack channel.
Seeking assistance, they called the Zoom helpline. “Do you just hang out here all day?” they inquired of a representative, while another participant, an elderly woman in an oxygen tank, appeared cautiously on screen. “Pretty much,” replied the representative. “I hope they pay you well,” the worker commented earnestly. “They don’t,” the representative confessed, then informed the worker that they were already a member of the Slack channel they had been trying to access and had missed five critical onboarding quizzes in a document they had failed to read.
