This happens a lot in the media business, which relies quite substantially on actual freelancers, who tend to be high-priced writers, directors, designers, composers, editors, and so on - many with their own agents.
That large pool of legitimate freelance labor has provided media companies with the cover needed to pass of their regular staff jobs as something other than permanent employment. The cynical (read: accurate) term used by people stuck in these spots is 'permalancing'.
I remember a friend from high school who worked as a Production Assistant (PA) in LA. Among other tidbits I heard, like driving across the city for Christina Aguilera's lunch, was the fact that every fourteen days (or maybe it was ten?) most of the entire production staff was fired en masse and then rehired the next day. Otherwise, according to union rules, they had to become part of the union.
How could that possibly even work? Was it really just 'you're fired... okay you're hired', or was there a day in between, or what? If the union and the employees had any sense at all they would have called bullshit on that.
That large pool of legitimate freelance labor has provided media companies with the cover needed to pass of their regular staff jobs as something other than permanent employment. The cynical (read: accurate) term used by people stuck in these spots is 'permalancing'.