Independent Contractor Classification Greatly Restricted

Today, the California Legislature passed AB 5, a landmark bill that will require companies to treat workers as employees and not independent contractors if the companies exert control over how the workers perform their tasks or if their work is part of the companies’ regular business. Governor Newsom is expected to sign the bill. The new law, which goes into effect January 1, 2020, codifies the California Supreme Court’s 2018 ruling in Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court of Los Angeles, and will have major ramifications for employers operating in the gig economy.

Update: Governor Newsom signed the bill on September 18.

Is Uber Driving Us Toward a New Class of Worker?

Technology has radically changed the way we work. It has freed us from notions of a static physical worksite and turned many Starbucks into a business center. It has upended traditional ideas of work schedules and work days in ways that are both good and bad. It has also created what has been termed “the online gig economy” which allows people to opt in and out of jobs in ways that simply would not have been possible in the past.
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