Freelancers (temporarily) and newspaper carriers exempted from California law limiting independent contractors

A newly signed California law that limits the use of independent contractors has exemptions for some newspaper workers.

Assembly Bill 5 was mainly aimed at app-based companies like Uber which, critics contend, should treat their gig workers as employees. However, the California News Publishers Association persuaded the bill's sponsors to include exemptions for freelance photographers, photojournalists, writers, editors, and newspaper cartoonists. Under the exemption, freelancers can provide up to 35 submissions to a single publication per year, the CNPA reports.

Also, legislators agreed to amend a separate bill, now signed, to give newspaper carriers and distributors a one-year exemption, CNPA reports. That exemption will expire on Jan. 1, 2021.