Across California, AB 5 is upending workplaces. But as critics demand exemptions and even a repeal of the statute, many businesses are quietly adopting strategies to comply with the law. margotroosevelt reports:
For California businesses, 2020 will be a year of reckoning. Sweeping new laws curbing long-time employment practices take effect, aimed at reducing economic inequality and giving workers more power in their jobs.
Accountants are among AB 5’s exempted professions, but during tax season, they traditionally hire independent contractors to help file clients’ returns and process payrolls. Sheila Scoville, president of Omni Therapy, a 30-employee Los Angeles referral agency, is one executive hoping the business-to-business provision will save her company — but she isn’t sure. Omni connects healthcare agencies to physical therapists who work as independent contractors helping elderly patients recover from strokes or surgery in their homes.
But if the ABC test were applied, and the 500 therapists on Omni’s roster were deemed her employees, Scoville calculated that workers’ compensation alone would cost her nearly a million dollars a year. “AB 5 hit us like a ton of bricks,” said Christian Lebano, artistic director of the Sierra Madre Playhouse.
North Hollywood’s Deaf West Theatre, which offers plays in sign language, has also been forced to adapt. Its actors and stage managers were already employees, but for its next production, 11 people will gain employee status, including the director, producer, designers and sign-language interpreters.
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