California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill Friday exempting two dozen professions from last year’s historic rewrite of California employment law that limited use of independent contractors.
The amendments to last year’s bill, effective immediately, include exemptions for artists, promoters and distributers of sound recordings, and cosmetologists. These exemptions fall into the state’s ongoing effort to balance any unworkable limits previously placed on services provided by freelance writers and musicians, among others.
Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, who wrote the original bill, sought to tackle the misclassification of workers as independent contractors which “has been a significant factor in the erosion of the middle class and the rise in income inequality.” Unlike contractors, workers who are deemed employees are entitled to the minimum wage and benefits including overtime, sick leave and expense reimbursement.
Ordinarily, workers must demonstrate their status as an independent contractor by passing the so-called “ABC” test. Each worker must show they are
free from the control and direction of the hiring entity in connection with the performance of the work, the person performs work that is outside the usual course of the hiring entity’s business, and the person is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, or business.
By exempting these professions, California expands those who are automatically waived from having to pass the “ABC” test.
