Posts tagged Pacific Legal Foundation
‘Independent Contractor’ Rule Latest Dumpster Fire Exported From California
January 31, 2024 // One of those infamous policies and the havoc it’s bound to wreak has gone national, thanks to labor department rules issued by the Biden administration. A 339-page Department of Labor rule – you can always count on the federal government to keep it pithy – would make it much harder to be an independent contractor or freelance worker in America. Created to replace a simpler Trump-era rule, it’s modeled on AB5, a disastrous 2019 California law that made independent contracting and freelance work so hard to do that it effectively outlawed it in the Golden State.
Biden OSHA Revives Union-, Worker-Friendly Inspection Rep Rule
January 19, 2023 // “It was a backdoor way to unionize, outside the bargaining process,” Conn said, adding that she’s not surprised the policy is seeing a revival considering the Biden administration’s pro-union stance. Who Gets Say This OSHA rule could clarify the role of union representatives during inspections, said Steve Sallman, director of safety and health for the United Steelworkers. Employers with union workforces generally understand that their employees can designate a union local member to participate in an inspection, Sallman said. But there have been problems when a national union office sends a staff member who isn’t an employee at the workplace to participate in an inspection, Sallman said. Employers have refused to let national union representatives into worksites, sometimes leading to OSHA seeking a court order to allow the participation.
Labor Day Reflections: How Philanthropists Can Advance the Dignity of Work
September 1, 2022 // The Roundtable works to ensure every American has the freedom to reach their full, unique potential and achieve economic security. We support organizations that eliminate barriers to upward mobility, expand opportunity and reward hard work and perseverance. These nonprofits work tirelessly to connect people with job opportunities – and help advance policies that will lead to a flourishing economy. Nevertheless, they are confronting some economic conditions that are largely outside of their control.
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
Op-ed: ‘Translation Agencies Are Cancelling My Contracts’ — California’s AB5 Bill Starts to Bite
June 20, 2022 // In response to criticism from freelancers concerned about losing work, Assemblywoman Gonzalez stated on December 12, 2019, “These were never good jobs. No one has ever suggested that, even freelancers.” She later clarified: “I’m sorry if I shorthanded things they were expressed to me. All the freelancers I met with complained about the lack of standards on pay, timely pay, etc.” On December 17, 2019, the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) and the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA), represented by pro bono attorneys from the Pacific Legal Fund, filed a lawsuit against what they call AB5’s illegal discrimination against journalists. The suit comes on the heels of Vox Media’s December 16, 2019 announcement that the company would end contracts with approximately 200 freelance sports writers and editors due to AB5, replacing them with 20 new part-time and full-time. gig worker bill, interpreters, legal challenge, translators, Lorena Gonzalez, court and medical interpreter, Gloria M. Rivera, National Committee for Languages, Coalition of Practicing Translators and Interpreters of California, American Association of Language Specialists, Rae K. Farley, CART, Communication Access Realtime Translation, Renee Silverman, New Jersey’s Senate Labor Committee