Effective January 1, 2020, Assembly Bill 5 ("AB5") dictates which California workers must receive full employment benefits. This new law has shown to be a continuously hot topic, as battles over employee classification persist in court. On one side we have groups seeking to roll back the law. These include truck drivers, who argue that [...]
France’s highest appeals court has become the first to declare that a former Uber driver should be recognized as an employee rather than an independent worker. With similar cases ongoing in the U.S. and U.K., this case is part of a “global battle” and has set a precedent for how employees are regulated in the [...]
On Thursday, February 27, a motion to suspend the California Assembly Bill 5 (AB 5) was voted down by the State Assembly. How AB 5 affects Freelancers To recap, AB 5 codifies a landmark Supreme Court of California case, Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court of Los Angeles (2018), which restricts who can qualify [...]
A common challenge most small and medium-sized businesses face is determining how to classify an employee. For small and medium-sized businesses, cost is an ever-present concern. The biggest costs are employees. As such, knowing how to classify employees—whether as a W-2 worker or 1099 independent contractor—is essential. What’s the difference? A W-2 employee is a [...]
With the new labor law, Assembly Bill 5 (AB5), in effect, the ride-share company Uber Technologies Inc. has made changes to its app in California. The biggest change to the app is that customers will see a price range instead of seeing an upfront pricing on trips. Other updates include the ability to “favorite” drivers and schedule [...]
In September 2019, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed new state legislation, Assembly Bill 5 (AB5), into law. Effective January 1, 2020, AB5 affects independent contractors throughout California, radically changing 30 years of worker classification and reclassifying millions as employees. It significantly reforms the future of independent workforces in California. AB5 codifies the landmark April 2018 [...]
I was invited as a guest on Exit Coach Radio to discuss the newest employment law changes for California employers to know, focusing particularly on the most important of all – AB5. AB5 codifies and expands the Dynamex “ABC” test. Currently, the Dynamex test considers all workers to be employees and permits the classification of [...]
A new California law codifies the new independent contractor standard set by the California Supreme Court in Dynamex, with some new exceptions. AB 5 was signed into law on September 18, 2019. Here are its key provisions: "ABC" Test AB 5 enacts as law the “ABC” test for independent contractors set forth in 2018 [...]
On July 22, 2019, the Ninth Circuit vacated its decision in Vazquez v. Jan-Pro Franchising International, Inc., 923 F.3d 575 (9th Cir. May 2, 2019). The May Jan-Pro decision had held that the “ABC” test for independent contractor status mandated in Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court, 4 Cal.5th 903 (2018), applied retroactively. [...]
This May, in Vazquez v. Jan-Pro Franchising International, Inc., 923 F.3d 575 (9th Cir. May 2, 2019), the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal held that the California Supreme Court’s landmark independent contractor decision in Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court, 4 Cal.5th 903 (2018), applies retroactively. This means that companies who classified their [...]
