Posts tagged freelance worker
California Court Rebukes War on Workers
March 16, 2023 // This obviously poses an existential threat to emerging app-based companies that rely on a contractor model, but it also posed an entirely predictable threat to many traditional professions where workers eschew the 9–5 cubicle or factory floor work model. When the Legislature codified Dynamex via Assembly Bill 5, which went into effect in January 2020, it exempted many industries — primarily those with the most influential lobbies. Nevertheless, economic destruction ensued. Companies eliminated jobs rather than hire people as salaried employees. Publications — including Vox, which ran a piece championing AB 5 — laid off its California stringers. Musical groups that relied on gig workers had to shutter their operations. All types of freelance workers — from photographers to sign-language interpreters to rabbis — suddenly found themselves in a pickle. The same Gov. Gavin Newsom who used his vast executive powers to suspend laws during the COVID pandemic refused to suspend AB 5, even as people who were forced to stay at home lost their stay-at-home freelance opportunities. Some Californians embraced the workaround of starting an LLC, but that imposed new costs on workers who already were struggling. Dynamex Operations West v. Superior Court of Los Angeles
Department of Labor Rule – Coalition Letter
July 22, 2022 // The January 7, 2021 DOL rule has provided clarity to the decades-old economic realities test for the modern workforce, helping to apply determinations in light of the different types of work and technologies used to work and connect with customers today. Instead of removing this clear and sensible standard and attempting to diminish or eliminate independent contracting, we urge you to preserve paths to self-employment that allow tens of millions of working Americans, parents of children with special needs, workers seeking career changes, disabled workers and workers caring for disabled family members, and entrepreneurs growing small businesses of their own to pursue work on their own terms. Brent Wm. Gardner, Brandon Arnold, Grover Norquist, Michael J. Lotito, Greg Sindelar, Krisztina Pusok, Ph. D., The American Consumer, American Legislative Exchange Council, Lisa B. Nelson, Center for Freedom and Prosperity, Andrew F. Quinlan, Robert Fellner, Heather R. Higgins, Independent Women's Voice, Bethany Marcum, Alaska Policy Forum, Mike Stenhouse, Mike Hruby, New Jobs America, Paul Gessing, Rio Grande Foundation, Seton Motley, Less Government, Robert Alt, Steve Delie, Brian Minnich, Daniel Erspamer, Pelican Institute, Eric Peterson, Pelican Center for Technology and Innovation, Randy Hicks, Georgia Center for Opportunity, Alliance for Opportunity, Jeffrey Mazzella, Center for Individual Freedom, Douglas Carswell, Mississippi Center for Public Policy, David Williams, Taxpayers Protection Alliance, Ryan Ellis, Center for a Free Economy, Phil Kerpen, American Commitment, James Taylor, The Heartland Institute, Adam Brandon, FreedomWorks, Elaine Parker, Job Creators Network Foundation, Brandon Dutcher, Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, Thomas A. Schatz, Citizens Against Government Waste, Justin Owen, Beacon Center of Tennessee, Matthew Kandrach, Consumer Action for a Strong Economy, Charles Mitchell, Commonwealth Foundation, James L. Martin, 60 Plus Association, Saulius “Saul” Anuzis, 60 Plus Association,
U.S. Supreme Court won’t hear freelancers’ challenge to California employment law
June 29, 2022 // In 2020, California voters approved a ballot referendum exempting app-based transportation services such as Uber Technologies Inc and Lyft Inc from the scope of AB5. A state judge last year struck down the measure, saying it violated the state's workers' compensation law. An industry group's appeal is pending. The ASJA in its 2019 lawsuit claimed AB5 unreasonably blocks many freelance writers from being treated as independent contractors based on the content of their speech, while exempting similar work performed for marketing or artistic purposes. Samuel Siegel, California Department of Justice