In theater and dance, where workers must show up at certain times and perform duties that are part of an arts organization’s mission, the vast majority of workers would likely be classified as employees under AB5.
AB5 author Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, addressed that issue in a webinar this month sponsored by Californians for the Arts.
“When you exercise that much control and direction over an individual, you become an employer,” she said.
Read MoreDrafted as an urgency matter, A.B. 2257 takes effect immediately. Accordingly, businesses should:
Do a comprehensive review of all workers currently classified as independent contractors to see if that classification still fits – especially with regard to workers in the categories identified above, and
Review business-to-business and referral agency relationships in accordance with these new requirements.
Today, Governor Gavin Newsom signed, to be effective immediately, Assembly Bill 2257 authored by California State Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego) to build on historic labor protections signed into law last year and clarify employment rules in the state.
Read MoreSupporters of Assembly Bill 2257 expect Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign the proposal into law this month. As urgency legislation, it would take effect as soon as he signs it into law.
Read MoreOther industries are also threatening to weaken the bill further. Ride share companies, who have been at the crux of the AB 5 change and whose employment policies sparked the most changes with the ABC tests of independent contractors and employees, may also also be pulling out. A ballot initiative to formally exempt them from AB 5 is currently set for a November vote. Should it pass along with the two bills in the Senate, AB 5 would have most of the major industries and jobs it had originally sought to protect in under a year. A few court cases, while currently swinging towards AB 5’s favor, could also remove AB 5 entirely should it be decided by a judge.
Read MoreA.B. 5 set a new three-factor “ABC” test for determining worker classification. The test generally presumes a worker to have employee status unless the employer can prove all three criteria—that the person is free from control of the company that’s hiring them, that the service provided is outside the company’s usual course of business, and that the person is customarily engaged in an independent trade or occupation.
Read Morefter more than a year of meetings, fact-findings and discussions with musicians and other artists in the music industry, California State Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego) and Assembly Majority Leader Ian Calderon (D-Whittier) announced pending amendments to her landmark state law, Assembly Bill 5, that will balance the need to protect workers and preserve musicians’ ability to collaborate within the industry.
Read More“Fine artist” is not defined at all by AB 5. The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics defines “craft and fine artists” as artists who “use a variety of materials and techniques to create art for sale and exhibition.” That doesn’t sound like it includes performing or other creative artists involved in theatre. Except the bill’s author, Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, has furthered muddied the waters in her public statements.
“A musician is a fine artist,” Gonzalez said, according to Chloe Veltman in a report from NPR affiliate KQED. “I think as our world changes, the definition of a fine artist changes. This is going to be an ongoing discussion.”
Read MoreCap Radio’s Bethe Ruyak interviews Californians for the Arts Executive Director Julie Baker on AB5.
Read MoreAssembly Bill 5 -- more commonly known as the “ride-share bill”-- offers new wages and benefits to workers at gig economies like Uber and Lyft by reclassifying them as employees instead of independent contractors.
But artists and art organizations believe the law is impacting their professional freedom and income.
Read MoreWhat do sheep shearers, rehab specialists, ventriloquists, medical transcriptionists, face-paint artists and test proctors have in common?
They’re among the many kind of workers who are mobilizing online, in public protests, and in letters and visits to lawmakers to say that AB5, California’s controversial new gig work law, is hurting their livelihoods.
Read MoreOn February 6, in a letter issued to the Assembly Committee on Budget, California Assemblywomen Lorena Gonzalez and Christy Smith requested a one-time allocation of $20 million in the 2020-21 state budget to the California Arts Council for the administration of a grants program serving small budget non-profit arts organizations that make a good faith effort to comply with AB5.
Read MoreMore than 80 percent of nonunion actors and stage managers in California have been misclassified as independent contractors and asked to work for less than minimum wage.
One month after California AB5 became law, an exclusive new survey from Actors’ Equity Association, the national union representing more than 51,000 professional actors and stage managers, highlights the need for AB5’s stronger employee protections.
Read MoreWriters and photographers filed suit over the bill in December, saying AB5 was an unconstitutional restraint of free speech and the media. They particularly objected to its “irrational and arbitrary” limit of 35 submissions per year, per client.
The suit was filed by the libertarian Pacific Legal Foundation on behalf of the American Society of Journalists and Authors and the National Press Photographers Association.
Read MoreInvestment in the arts is one of the keys to addressing the needs of our field. We applaud this announcement of a budget proposal for $20 million investment in the arts. #investinarts #artsadvocacy
Read More“Reclassifying workers as employees instead of contractors is a substantive plan to backstop the decades-long capitulation of labor at the hands of management. “What AB-5 stands for is the real structural pushback to the project of fissuring of work,” Veena Dubal, law professor at the University of California-Hastings and a labor scholar whose work was drawn upon to craft AB-5 said.”
Read More“For other industries, lawmakers are still considering changes to the law. Along with clarifying certain provisions, legislators are planning new language for musicians and the entertainment industry amid growing concerns over whether artists will be cast as employers under the new law, and be unable to work with the teams of people typically involved in production. “
Read MoreThe new law governing independent contracting, AB 5, includes what can be described as a business-to-business (B2B) exemption. But a close examination of the actual language shows that the B2B exemption is virtually inoperable.
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