California law will require many contract job workers to be treated as employees.
Is this the beginning of the end of the 'gig economy'?
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SACRAMENTO —
California lawmakers rewrote the rules of employment across a wide swath of industries Wednesday in legislation that could grant hundreds of thousands of workers new job benefits and pay guarantees.
After vigorous debates over what occupations should be exempted, Assembly Bill 5, which curbs businesses’ use of “independent contractors,” gained final approval in the state Senate and the Assembly and was sent on to Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has pledged his support.
The 6,700-word bill, one of the most controversial of the year, could upend the relationship between workers and bosses across businesses as varied as ride-hailing tech giants, construction, healthcare, trucking, janitorial services, nail salons, adult entertainment, commercial fishing and newspapers.
The message of the legislation, said its author, Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego), is “your business cannot game the system by misclassifying its workers. As lawmakers, we will not in good conscience allow free-riding businesses to continue to pass their own business costs onto taxpayers and workers.
latimes.com |
