R Street Institute

Policy Studies Future of Work

California After Dynamex: Worker Classification by Favor, Folly and Faux Pas

by C. Jarrett Dieterle AND Ian Adams AND Andy Jung
July 31, 2019
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Key Points

California stands on the brink of doing away with almost all contractor arrangements.
The future of work requires greater flexibility, and so-called “protections” that eliminate jobs are anything but, the authors claim.
History has shown that what begins in California often becomes national policy, and interest in adopting the “ABC” classification test, which forces many independent contractors to be designated as employees, has grown dramatically since the Dynamex decision.

AB 5 legislation, which redefines what it means to be an independent contractor in California, and the employment classification test it creates restricts the freedom of workers, diminishes their economic opportunity and flatly undermines their own employment preferences—it is the most noxious legislative proposal currently pending in Sacramento, and possibly nationally.

Press release: Dynamex Decision Throws Dynamite on the Future of Independent Contractors

Image credit: Jon Schulte

 

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