Read the short article from the Los Angeles Times regarding the passage of AB 5 in 2019 classifying Uber and Lyft drivers as employees. Post your thoughts on the decision. Take a point of view - driver, rideshare company, rideshare shareholder, or state regulator. Explain why you agree or disagree with the classification. The ruling and new state law raise the bar for companies that otherwise might rely on freelance or contract work. California's bill is arguably the strongest of its kind in the nation, giving the state and cities the right to file suit against companies over misclassification, overriding the arbitration agreements that many businesses use to shield themselves from worker complaints. The new law's supporters point to audits conducted by state employment officials that found almost 500,000 workers were wrongly treated as independent contractors. Much of the early legislative debate on the bill centered on low-wage sectors of the California economy. million contribution toward taking the issue to California voters in a 2020 ballot measure. No proposal has yet emerged, however, and next year's deadline for qualification of a ballot measure means a paid signature-gathering effort needs to begin this fall. Even tougher and more expensive would be an effort to overturn AB 5 through a ballot referendum. That option, though, would come with a unique benefit for opponents of AB 5: If backers gathered enough signatures, the employment law would be suspended until voters weighed in next November. The app-economy companies said Wednesday that they are looking to Newsom, who counts tech and labor groups as longtime supporters, to help broker a truce. Under AB 5, which will take effect Jan. 1, Californians will be considered to be employees of a business unless an employer can show the work they perform meets a detailed set of criteria established by a California Supreme Court ruling last year. Under those criteria, a worker is an employee if his or her job forms part of a company's core business, if the bosses direct the way the work is done or if the worker has not established an independent trade or business. Read the short article from the Los Angeles Times regarding the passage of AB 5 in 2019 classifying Uber and Lyft drivers as employees. Post your thoughts on the decision. Take a point of view - driver, rideshare company, rideshare shareholder, or state regulator. Explain why you agree or disagree with the classification. The ruling and new state law raise the bar for companies that otherwise might rely on freelance or contract work. California's bill is arguably the strongest of its kind in the nation, giving the state and cities the right to file suit against companies over misclassification, overriding the arbitration agreements that many businesses use to shield themselves from worker complaints. The new law's supporters point to audits conducted by state employment officials that found almost 500,000 workers were wrongly treated as independent contractors. Much of the early legislative debate on the bill centered on low-wage sectors of the California economy. million contribution toward taking the issue to California voters in a 2020 ballot measure. No proposal has yet emerged, however, and next year's deadline for qualification of a ballot measure means a paid signature-gathering effort needs to begin this fall. Even tougher and more expensive would be an effort to overturn AB 5 through a ballot referendum. That option, though, would come with a unique benefit for opponents of AB 5: If backers gathered enough signatures, the employment law would be suspended until voters weighed in next November. The app-economy companies said Wednesday that they are looking to Newsom, who counts tech and labor groups as longtime supporters, to help broker a truce. Under AB 5, which will take effect Jan. 1, Californians will be considered to be employees of a business unless an employer can show the work they perform meets a detailed set of criteria established by a California Supreme Court ruling last year. Under those criteria, a worker is an employee if his or her job forms part of a company's core business, if the bosses direct the way the work is done or if the worker has not established an independent trade or business