California’s state law AB-5 is essential to improving the lives of misclassified workers

A California court has finally lifted the injunction that prevented a state law on worker misclassification—AB-5—from going into effect. The decision is a huge win for California truck drivers and other misclassified workers.

Critics of the law claim AB-5 prevents workers from making their own choices about their jobs and working conditions, hampers worker flexibility, and restricts an individual from being their own boss. Critics also claim these new regulations will adversely affect the nation’s supply chain. None of these claims are true.

To understand what AB 5 does, first you have to understand what an “independent contractor” really is. Traditional “independent contractors” like consultants, photographers, freelance writers, and lawyers are typically small business entrepreneurs who decide who they work for and how and when they perform their tasks.

[Independent contractors are not the same as] misclassified “independent” truck drivers, Uber and Lyft drivers, FedEx delivery drivers, and other low wage “contractors.” These workers are wholly controlled by their employers and do not have the ability to negotiate working conditions, pay, or how and when they work.

By falsely claiming their workers have “flexibility” and are “independent,” these same employers avoid paying a minimum wage, health insurance, unemployment insurance, Social Security, and other payroll taxes. It’s a scam. This is how corporations shove the costs of doing business on to their workers, and on to you, the taxpayer. We all end up paying so they can profit.

Misclassification is directly responsible for increasing income inequality and exploitative working conditions, and this business model has exploded at corporations all over the country.

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