California labor agency unveils website to explain new employment status law

Sacramento, CA — The California Labor and Workforce Development Agency has launched a website intended to help employers and workers navigate the state’s recently enacted employment status law, A.B. 5.

The website provides resources and information on worker misclassification, employee protections and employer obligations, along with labor laws and employee rights.

“This website is meant to be a resource for California’s workers and employers to ensure a smooth implementation of the law,” Julie Su, California’s secretary of labor, said in a Dec. 16 press release. “Misclassification, or labeling a worker as an independent contractor when they should be an employee, undermines businesses who play by the rules and basic worker protections like minimum wage, paid sick days and the safety of workplaces.”

The website explains the three-step ABC test used to determine whether a worker is an independent contractor. The test was adopted by the California Supreme Court in April 2018, when it ruled unanimously in favor of drivers working for Dynamex Operations West, a package and document delivery company that had converted all of its drivers to independent contractor status. In its decision, the court ruled that workers can be classified as independent contractors if:

1. They are “free from control and direction” of the employer as it relates to performance of the work.
2. Their work is performed “outside the usual course” of the hiring entity’s business.
3. They engage in an independently established trade, occupation or business of the same nature as the work performed for the hiring entity.

A.B. 5, signed into law Sept. 18 by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), allows exceptions to the ABC test in some instances, in which certain requirements must be met.