Gig Worker Law Architect Pushes for Freelancer Flexibility

California Assembly Member Lorena Gonzalez (D) is looking to loosen her landmark worker classification law’s restrictions for freelance journalists and writers.

Gonzalez, the author of Assembly Bill 5 that became law this year, announced proposed changes that would remove the cap on the number of submissions that a writer, photographer, or editor may create for an employer before they must be considered an employee. The law set that cap at 35 submissions per year.

Written to codify the California Supreme Court’s 2018 Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court decision, A.B. 5 faced significant backlash from freelance workers who said ...