Rideshare driver Jesus Jacobo Zepeda of Lancaster, California takes part in a rally as part of a statewide day of action to demand that ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft follow California law and grant drivers “basic employee rights”, in Los Angeles, California, U.S., August 20, 2020.
Mike Blake | Reuters
California voters gave Uber and Lyft a big win in the fight over the future of gig economy workers, approving Proposition 22, but it is not only the tech giants and freelancers delivering people and food who expect major repercussions from the ballot decision.
Independent contractors across the country might breathe a sign of relief in that California voters sent a message to the state’s legislators that AB 5, the law which was enacted to classify freelancers as employees, is widely unpopular. Other states, including New Jersey, Massachusetts and Illinois, have been among those considering crafting legislation to force companies to deem freelancers as employees. Now those states can more clearly see the risks, experts say.
“It won’t go away, but it will be revisited and look at much more closely,” said Miles Everson, CEO of MBO Partners, which is a consultant to the independent contractor community. The overriding message that Prop 22 sends is that “one size fits all” legislation which lumps all freelance professions together don’t work and won’t be popular with voters.
AB 5’s problems were already well-known, as California has already been forced to create roughly 100 carve-outs for various professions to be exempt from the law. That included many unskilled workers “in the zone of the big guys taking advantage of the little guys” Everson said but also the independent contractors a firm like MBO Partners serves: solo entrepreneurs building their own businesses, making six-figures and holding advanced education degrees.
“It’s an important societal issue,” Everson, whose firm supports a more detailed set of self-employed guidelines, said, noting more people are working as freelancers today and growth continues, but AB 5 has not been a good solution. “This is not just about Uber and Lyft. It’s about people who want to build their own business. … High-end knowledge workers generating six figures should be happy about the decision.”
“But it’s far from over,” Everson said. “Working populations have different needs and characteristics and you need to separate that out for different cohorts of workers, and unto they do it, there will be more swings in the pendulum,” he said. “It’s a step towards compromise, but a much larger step highlighting the need to not generalize legislation and be more specific about targeted cohorts of workers.”
Steve King, a partner at freelance labor consulting firm Emergent Research, thinks it will influence action in other states. “It will dampen enthusiasm for AB5-like laws elsewhere and I think will reduce chances of the [current version of the] Pro Act at the federal level, even if Biden wins,” he said. “Prop 22 won pretty big.”
“If you’re outside of California and a freelancer this is useful, because it is just another reason to not pass an AB 5-type law unless you’re very careful with it, so this will deter other states from going down the AB 5 path. This vote shows you will get pushback wherever they would try another AB 5. This was a pretty clear slap in the face of AB 5.” He added, “had it failed, it would have been much more likely other states go with an AB 5.”
King said misclassification of workers is a serious issue, and freelance, which now represents 12% to 15% of the labor force in the U.S., will continue to grow. Freelance work will not “take over” the jobs market, he said, but it is a large part and important part of the labor force and laws around the country remain confusing.
This vote shows you will get pushback wherever they would try another AB5. This was a pretty clear slap in the face of AB 5.
Steve King
Emergent Research partner
Kim Kavin, co-founder of the non-partisan Fight for Freelancers group, and a freelance writer and editor based in New Jersey, said, “Everybody is celebrating today. All the mayhem in federal election results … we are just thrilled about this one result.”
She added that while all the focus is on the win for Uber and Lyft, “we see this as a major win in a bigger battle, we see the voters standing with us. … We sure hope it has an impact on New Jersey policymakers … and at the federal level.”
King favors a well-crafted federal law to provide clarity. A version of the Pro Act, which has been criticized by the freelance industry in its current form, which is written to be more freelancer-friendly and identify truly independent contractors, is needed, he said.
“The most productive way would be at the federal level, even if not enacted as law,” Everson said, adding Department of Labor guidelines can help, though they can also change from administration to administration. President Trump’s DoL has proposed new worker misclassification guidelines.
Within California, the impact of Prop 22 is limited for now. While traditional logistics companies could be next to make the case that they are app-based, like an Uber, many freelancers across professions are still subject to AB 5 and that won’t change.
“AB 5 has just been a mess. It was well-intentioned … but was poorly written and vague,” he said, noting the 100 exemptions legislators already have had to add.
But King is hesitant to say the decision is a clear-cut political win for all freelancers, though he expects many will make that case. He said Prop 22 was too narrow, and too focused on drivers, to have certainty that it will define the fight to come over freelance. It does provide talking points to political interests that want to show voters don’t want workers forced into traditional jobs. But he said his firm’s survey work show that the average voter really did view Prop 22 as an “Uber/Lyft” issue.
California “still a mess” for freelancers
Within California, that situation for many freelancers, “is still a mess,” he said. And rather than lead state legislators to reconsider their stance, it could “just make a bunch of politicians madder,” King said.
Many of the repercussions of AB 5 already in California will remain issues, such as companies scared about violating AB 5 and getting hit with big fines opting for full-time employees or to hire freelancers out of the state or out of the country. And for freelancers in California, a very confusing law remains.
“AB 5 is still the law,” he said, with a new carve-out for drivers. “And it is the weirdest law ever written maybe in California, and affects so many people.”
He said there might be some moral victory for California freelancers, the legislature willing to do even more carve-outs and the results may reduce the aggressive of state enforcement of AB 5, but “the AB 5 problem remains.”
Jim Manley, a lawyer with the Pacific Legal Foundation, which is currently representing associations of journalists and photographers in an AB 5 case under appeal in California, said Prop 22 shows that voters agree with the backlash that has existed about AB 5 ever since it was proposed.
“We should leave it up to workers to decide on how to structure a business. … this is great news for rideshare companies, but it also sends a clear message from voters that they don’t support policies like AB5, which is bad public policy.”
He said all the exemptions already added to the legislation show the lack of care that went into writing it, and that efforts like Prop 22 are not a long-term solution.
“My sense is voters want more worker freedom and don’t think the way to achieve it is through piecemeal carve-outs for industries,” Manley said, adding “if we go that route, we will continue down the same road we’ve been on.”
That implies industries with enough political pull or enough resources to mount a big lobbying battle will get their carve-outs, but “it doesn’t help freelance comedians who don’t have a coalition,” Manley said.
He does not expect the lawmakers who wrote AB 5 to admit mistakes in any more significant way than all of the exemptions they have had to add already, but he agreed with the other experts that it will make lawmakers beyond California more wary.
“The message Prop 22 sends is to pump the breaks on AB 5-type legislation and think more carefully about how your affecting the people you’re trying to help,” he said. “Policy makers need to take a look at what happened with Prop 22 and ask, is that the fight you want to have? The rest of the country can learn from California.”
New Jersey-based freelancer Kavin said worker misclassification is a big problem, and clarity at the federal level would help, but “AB 5 is not a roadmap. As big and expensive as Prop 22 was, hopefully it gets them to hear us.”
