Posts tagged translators
Commentary: ‘The Safety of Our Children’
September 11, 2025 // Here’s an interesting perspective from within the estimated 8,300 public comments that the New Jersey Department of Labor & Workforce Development uploaded last week, with regard to its proposed independent-contractor rule. Denise Lanza, co-chair of the New Jersey Recreation and Park Association Public Affairs Committee, filed a comment that explains how the rule-making would make it a challenge for the statewide parks and recreation community to hire people like youth league umpires and coaches, or yoga instructors for senior citizens at community centers.
What was the impact of AB5 on California’s marginalized communities?
March 31, 2025 // Esther Hermida, a representative of the American Alliance of Professional Translators and Interpreters (AAPTI) testified about AB5’s impact on thousands of citizens in her industry comprised of 75 percent women. One professional translator, Ildiko Santana, reported she started her small business in 2000 as an immigrant and woman of color. She lost all 50 clients and all her income in 2020 when AB5 went into effect.
Worker misclassification could cost big bucks for small businesses
February 22, 2024 // Audited companies found to have misclassified employees face significant penalties. Just federally that means repaying all the employer portions of taxes that had been paid by employees and a portion of the employee contribution. There are also interest and penalty costs. “That’s just the tax piece,” Panning said. “If there’s a class action lawsuit by these independent contractors saying we’re employees, we deserve the benefits, then it’s even more because you get into the court system.”
Biden Takes a Destructive California Idea National
February 4, 2024 // The Biden administration appears undeterred by the lessons of recent history. The California law unleashed chaos in the state’s politics and courts. Politicians delegated to union leaders the power to hand out exemptions to politically favored groups. Lawyers, doctors, psychologists, dentists, podiatrists — almost anybody with an advanced degree was exempt. When newspapers editorialized against the new law — noting that they rely on freelance photographers, reporters, editors, designers, and delivery people — they, too, were excluded from the new regulations. Suddenly free from the dead hand of state regulators, the newspapers turned as one and editorialized in favor of the new law. A federal judge said the process was shot through with “corruption,” “backroom dealing,” “pure spite,” and “naked favoritism.” But more important, A.B. 5 crushed tens of thousands of California business owners — those who operate as independent contractors as well as those who employ or otherwise rely on them. Now Biden and Su plan to bring the crazy to every American state.
As PRO Act Stalls, US Labor Department Rethinks Status of Independent Contractors
July 7, 2022 // “Only a handful of people asked the department to change the rule, and most of them weren’t even independent contractors,” according to Fight For Freelancers cofounder, Jen Singer. “They were union organizers or union members who wouldn’t be affected by any rule change.” Lorena Ortiz-Schneider, founder of CoPTIC America, noted that of the 350-plus attendees of the employer’s panel, the 44 participants who spoke up were mostly small business owners. virtual public forums, American Translators Association, AB 2257, Bill Rivers, Federal Register
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