Flexibility Critical to Preserving Millions of Independent Contractors Jobs

A move to modernize state labor laws could jeopardize millions of California jobs—from real estate agents to graphic designers—if changes now being considered in Sacramento impose onerous and unnecessary restrictions on an entire class of workers who operate as independent contractors. Bay Area Council Senior Director of Government Relations Cornelious Burke this week (Feb. 26) testified before the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee in the first of an expected series of hearings on the question of how to define independent contractors.

The Council supports modernizing labor laws, but Burke urged legislators to preserve the flexibility that for decades has enabled independent contractors to flourish and prosper. The legislature has taken up the question following a state Supreme Court decision—known as the Dynamex ruling—last year that made it harder for businesses to classify workers as independent contractors. Legislators are now deciding whether and to what extent to codify the court ruling in state law. The Council is part of a statewide business coalition opposed to making the Dynamex ruling state law. To learn more, please contact Senior Vice President Linda Bidrossian.