“California is radioactive,” said Karen Anderson, founder of the Facebook group “Freelancers Against AB5,” a protest group aiming to repeal a state law classifying most California freelancers as employees in order to guarantee certain job benefits.
“California needs to suspend AB5 during this pandemic,” Anderson said, “so when we crawl out of the wreckage of the stay-at-home order, we can survive without having a stranglehold on entrepreneurship and a boot on the neck of small and medium-sized businesses.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, signed the bill into law in September, reclassifying large numbers of gig workers as employees rather than independent contractors.
Higbee said even if the bill had been passed to protect the vulnerable, the Uber and Lyft drivers he has spoken to have either not heard of AB5, or, upon learning of it, insist that they don’t want to make less money by being classified as an employee, even if employers are forced by law to provide benefits.
Gonzalez called out Uber’s CEO in March for requesting exemption from federal and state labor laws and accused the rideshare giant of exploiting the pandemic to undercut worker protections.
