New York Lawmakers Preparing Gig- Worker Bill Eye California's Challenges
December 05 2019 - 6:58PM
Dow Jones News
By Jimmy Vielkind
ALBANY -- New York state lawmakers said they had concerns about
the phrasing of a new California law intended to reclassify
contract workers for app-based companies as traditional employees,
as they prepare their own gig-economy legislation.
Assemblyman Marcos Crespo, a Democrat from the Bronx who chairs
the chamber's Labor Committee, said during a Thursday hearing that
California's new law exempts many professions and has prompted
legal challenges. Ride-hailing companies including Uber
Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. are backing a ballot initiative to
undo the law next year.
"The California language and the aftermath of their legislative
process demands that we take a strong look at language and the
clarity of it," Mr. Crespo said.
Labor unions are pushing for a similar bill in New York, saying
it would extend mandated employment benefits such as overtime pay,
unemployment insurance and paid leave to workers in the gig
economy. Groups representing tech companies say reclassifying
workers would raise costs and stifle innovation.
The California law, which takes effect Jan. 1, uses a
three-pronged, so-called ABC test to classify workers as employees
rather than contractors. To be exempted, companies have to show
that workers have control over over which tasks they are assigned,
are doing work outside the usual course of the company's business,
and regularly operate independently.
State lawmakers in New Jersey are considering similar
legislation.
Mr. Crespo said he was still preparing a bill and hoped it would
be introduced before or shortly after New York lawmakers return to
the Capitol next month. But he suggested there was still work to
do.
"It's just really difficult because every company, every
industry operates so differently," he said. "There are nuances that
I don't think you could ever accomplish in three questions."
State Sen. Diane Savino, a Democrat from Staten Island who is
working with Mr. Crespo on the legislation, said she shared his
concern. She said it appeared California rushed into a very
complicated area.
The California bill was introduced last December by Lorena
Gonzalez, a Democratic assemblywoman, to codify a 2018 state
Supreme Court decision that set new standards for classifying
people previously considered independent contractors as
employees.
During the hearing in Albany Thursday, people representing
livery-cab dispatchers, travel advisers and other freelancers said
they appreciated their flexible work arrangements and feared an ABC
test would put them out of work.
"We're all scared," said Donna Liquori, a freelance writer who
lives near Albany. "We're hearing from people who are being turned
down for work now based on the proposed legislation in New
Jersey."
Groups representing technology companies said the ABC test would
be difficult to administer, particularly for people who
simultaneously log in to multiple mobile applications at once
seeking jobs.
Christina Fisher, executive director for the Northeast of
TechNet, a trade association whose members include Uber, Lyft and
the delivery company Postmates, said many app-based workers only
log in a few hours a week.
"We find it important not to put a one-size-fits-all on this,"
Ms. Fisher said.
Richard Blum, a staff attorney for the Legal Aid Society, which
represents low-income workers in employment cases, said
misclassification is a major problem and that New York has already
enacted laws placing an ABC test on truckers and construction
workers.
"It's worked fine," he said. "We have a basis, we have a model.
What we need is to expand that model."
Write to Jimmy Vielkind at Jimmy.Vielkind@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 05, 2019 18:43 ET (23:43 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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