AB 224: Worker status: employees and independent contractors: newspaper distributors and carriers.

Existing law, as established in the case of Dynamex Operations W. Inc. v. Superior Court (2018) 4 Cal.5th 903 (Dynamex), creates a presumption that a worker who performs services for a hirer is an employee for purposes of claims for wages and benefits arising under wage orders issued by the Industrial Welfare Commission. Existing law requires a 3-part test, commonly known as the ABC test, to determine if workers are employees or independent contractors for those purposes.

Existing law establishes that, for purposes of the Labor Code, the Unemployment Insurance Code, and the wage orders of the Industrial Welfare Commission, a person providing labor or services for remuneration is considered an employee rather than an independent contractor unless the hiring entity demonstrates that the person is free from the control and direction of the hiring entity in connection with the performance of the work, the person performs work that is outside the usual course of the hiring entitys business, and the person is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, or business. This test is known as the ABC test, as described above. Existing law charges the Labor Commissioner with the enforcement of labor laws, including worker classification.

Existing law exempts specified occupations and business relationships from the application of Dynamex and the provisions described above. These exemptions include a temporary exemption for newspaper distributors working under contract with a newspaper publisher and newspaper carriers, as those terms are defined, until January 1, 2025. Existing law, as part of that temporary exemption, requires every newspaper publisher or distributor that hires or directly contracts with newspaper carriers to submit prescribed information on carrier payroll taxes, wage rates, and wage claims to the Labor and Workforce Development Agency (LWDA), on or before March 1, 2022, March 1, 2023, and March 1, 2024.

This bill would extend the operation of that exemption until January 1, 2030. The bill would require the information on carrier payroll taxes, wage rates, and wage claims to be reported to the LWDA on or before March 1, 2025, March 1, 2026, March 1, 2027, March 1, 2028, and March 1, 2029.