Just a few days into the new year, observers of labor policy received an unexpected gift of sorts on the 10th day of Christmas. Rather than ten lords a-leaping, however, it was the news on January 3 that California Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, the author of California’s notorious independent contractor legislation known as AB 5, would resign her position within the week to work for the California Labor Federation (CLF).

Considering that Gonzalez actively pushed organized labor’s agenda as a legislator, perhaps her departure to work for the CLF should not be surprising, and presumably she will continue to push that agenda as an employee. Nevertheless, at least this development means she cannot sponsor harmful legislation like AB 5.

As this blog has observed previously, AB 5 enshrined into law a restrictive standard for determining whether an individual can be classified as an independent contractor under California’s wage and hour law. It did so by modifying what is known as the ABC test, which some states use for evaluating potential employer-employee relationships.

Under the typical ABC test, employers must satisfy all three parts to classify someone as an independent contractor. Importantly, the “B” prong states that one can be considered an independent contractor if “the service is performed either outside the usual course of the business for which it is performed or is performed outside of all places of business of the enterprise for which it is performed.”

In 2019,...

Read Full Story: https://www.uschamber.com/employment-law/unions/ab-5-sponsor-calls-it-quits