After Gig Battle, Franchises Are Next Front in Worker Status War

The franchise industry is mounting an attack on California’s rigid worker classification standard, hoping to follow in the footsteps of app-based gig companies that managed to secure a carveout to save their business models.

The test clashes with franchising and puts it at risk, the International Franchise Association has said in an ongoing lawsuit challenging Assembly Bill 5, the law that makes it harder to classify workers as independent contractors instead of employees. Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. scored a major victory last November at the ballot box to avoid the law’s reach, after their attempts to block the ...