The coronavirus outbreak, and the economic devastation it has wrought, has heaped fuel on the debate over AB-5, providing fresh arguments to both sides. JMBooyah reports:
Kathrin Kana juggles a few jobs: She’s a voice-over actor, a yoga instructor and a home organizer. But after the coronavirus outbreak and the shelter-in-place order implemented to contain it made gigs around Los Angeles hard to come by, Kana watched her bank account balance dwindle to $36 last Friday. Seeing few options that wouldn’t involve jeopardizing her health, she tried to sign up to transcribe audio clips for Rev.com from the comfort of her home.
Kana, and others like her, have published or signed petitions calling on state regulators to repeal AB5, or at least suspend it for the duration of the crisis. “You’re trying to protect us, but you’re killing independent contractors who now have zero income,” Kana said. On the other hand, workers such as Nicole Moore, a ride-share driver and an organizer of Los Angeles’ Rideshare Drivers United labor group, have held marches demanding that the legislature enforce AB5 and grant gig workers the employee protections they argue they’re entitled to. “If this pandemic is not the biggest example of why the majority of workers need this kind of backup [and benefits], I don’t know what is,” Moore said.
The federal bill also does little to close the gaps around sick leave policies that threaten to force workers to choose between driving or delivering when ill and losing out on income. In response to pressure from lawmakers including Sen. Mark Warner , Uber, Lyft, Postmates, Doordash and other companies agreed to offer workers as many as 14 days of paid sick leave if they are diagnosed with coronavirus or directed to self-isolate by a physician.
Gonzalez conceded that there’s still work to be done to ensure AB5 is suitable for all workers, but said the outbreak has forced a pause to the legislative process. “We are still working on ensuring that AB5 works for as many people as possible and that we can have different gradations of what a freelance job may look like,” she said. “We released language on freelance writers. We’re going to release language on musicians that we have.
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