Governor Signs AB 5, Calls for More Pathways to Organize Workers

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday called for lawmakers to create more pathways allowing workers to form unions, in his signing message for Assembly Bill 5. The bill, by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, codifies the state Supreme Court’s 2018 decision in Dynamex and applies the three-part test of employee status from that case to all labor disputes. The holding in Dynamex was limited to wage order disputes. Now the three-part test from that case will apply to decide whether someone is an employee or a contractor for unemployment insurance and work comp. For workers’ co...