Tag: Independent contractor

Oct
12
2020

New Law AB 2257 Adds Independent Contractor Exemptions

by CoreMark | posted in Blog, Newsletter

A new law has come to the rescue of a number of freelance professions by exempting them from the onerous requirements of AB 5, which required most independent contractors to be classified as employees in California. Governor Gavin Newsom on Sept. 1 signed AB 2257 as an urgency measure, so that it took effect immediately after it passed unanimously in both houses of the state Legislature. If you remember, AB 5 set a new standard for hiring independent contractors, requiring many to be reclassified as employees covered by minimum wage, overtime, workers’ compensation, unemployment and disability insurance. It created a…
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Mar
09
2020

More Businesses Get Bills for ‘Misclassified’ Workers Under AB 5

by CoreMark | posted in Blog, Newsletter

One outgrowth of new California law AB 5 that applies more stringent criteria for what constitutes an independent contractor is that many employers are likely to see more audits and calls for additional premium from their workers’ comp insurers. In fact, it’s already happening in some industries, according to the insurance industry trade press. More and more employers are being hit with sizeable surprise bills for additional premium by their insurers for allegedly misclassifying employees as independent contractors, according to one article in the Workers’ Comp Executive trade publication. And this problem is only like to get worse in 2020…
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Dec
05
2019

Changes to Independent Contractor Requirements Take Hold In California

by CoreMark Insurance Services | posted in Blog

This is the second in a three-part series brought to you by CoreMark Insurance Services, Inc to address a few of the major changes facing California employers in 2020. If you missed our first installment, you can read it here. The so-called “gig-economy” has made ever-lasting waves in the California employment landscape, and the full effects of these changes are still yet to be seen.  In September of this year, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 5, also known as AB-5, that codifies the “ABC Test” first seen in the Dynamex Supreme Court case. The new law puts a much…
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May
23
2018

California High Court Upends Independent Contractor Test

by CoreMark Insurance Services | posted in Blog, Newsletter

The California Supreme Court has handed down a decision that rewrites the state’s independent contractor law by adopting a more stringent test for determining whether or not someone is an employee for wage order cases. The new test is similar to Massachusetts independent contractor law, which is considered the strictest in the country. The new law will affect any California business that uses independent contractors and it makes it more difficult to classify someone as an independent contractor. In its decision in Dynamex Operations West, Inc. vs. Superior Court, the court rejected a test that’s been used for more than…
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Jul
10
2017

DOL Withdraws Guidance on Independent Contractors

by CoreMark Insurance Services | posted in Blog

The Trump administration has withdrawn guidance issued by the Department of Labor under President Obama that had tightened restrictions on joint employment and independent contractors. The move may give only the semblance of respite though, because the enabling regulations are still in place and so is established case law on the subject. The move only affects guidance that the DOL had issued to clarify regulations that were also codified during the last administration. In other words, for now the regulations remain in place and if the administration wants to tackle those, it would have to start from scratch in the…
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Jul
17
2015

Independent Contractor Classification Clarified amid Crackdown

by Cerrina Jensen | posted in Blog, Newsletter

On July 15, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued an administrator’s interpretation regarding the application of the Fair Labor Standards Act with respect to the misclassification of workers as independent contractors. The new interpretation is required reading for any business that uses independent contractors to any degree – often or seldom. It’s also important as the government continues to crack down on companies that misclassify their employees as independent contractors, most recently evidenced by the decision that Uber drivers are employees, and not independent contractors. The interpretation came after a ruling by the California Labor Commissioner’s Office that a…
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