SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Yesterday, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Assembly Bill 5 (AB 5), a sweeping piece of legislation that rewrites the state’s employment law to address the status of independent contractors, including dancers at strip clubs.
The bill passed the legislature last week and was sold to voters as a possible answer to 21st-Century issues like the “gig economy,” corporate use (and abuse) of “perma-lancers” and ways in which employers get around labor protections by deceitfully characterizing some workers’ status.