Experts forecast more worker rights, higher prices for services
By Gabrielle Canon | USA TODAY
A controversial piece of legislation passed the California Legislature late Tuesday evening, codifying and clarify a landmark state Supreme Court decision that limits whether companies can classify their workers as independent contractors.
Expected to have wide-reaching implications that resonate across the country — including posing an existential crisis for businesses built with independent, on-demand labor — the bill is now on its way to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk.
“This is one of the few times in recent history when so many people will be impacted by a single decision,” said Ryan Vet, an entrepreneur, and gig-economy expert who founded Boon, an on-demand health care platform. He said he sees positives and negatives in the new law, that is “good for the workers, but will also implode the gig economy as we know it today” with increased costs.
