Politico December 24, 2025
An employment and labor law professor at the University of California, Irvine, Veena Dubal is one of the strongest voices championing labor rights in the digital economy, especially for gig workers. The California Supreme Court has looked to her scholarship on matters impacting Uber and Lyft drivers, and her advocacy for gig workers in legislative battles has previously made her the target of a harassment campaign by industry groups. She was recently at the forefront of a legal effort by labor groups to challenge the Trump administration’s university funding cuts. Dubal discusses why algorithmic wage discrimination should be abolished, and what 19th-century mining might tell us about the future. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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