Elizabeth Warren supported this bill. Bernie Sanders wants to extend it to the federal level.
Much like minimum-wage laws, employment restrictions like this predominantly hurt marginalized communities - women, people of color, and the disabled
"Everybody Is Freaking Out": Freelance Writers Scramble to Make Sense of New California Law
excerpt
"Moreover, several freelance journalists who spoke with THR say that freelancing allows them not only to fill in the gaps of newsrooms' coverage but to keep working as journalists in an industry with baked-in biases. Newsrooms in the U.S. are predominately white, with 77 percent of newsroom employees identifying as non-Hispanic whites, according to a 2018 Pew Research Center study. While demographic information about freelance journalists is thin on the ground, Upwork and the Freelancers Union's 2019 survey of U.S. freelancers overall found that 62 percent of participants identify as white, compared with 66 percent in the general working population.
Yolanda Machado, an L.A.-based freelance film critic for The Wrap and writer for GQ, Shondaland and Harper's Bazaar, says that she's found people of color only tend to get hired as freelancers: "We don't get hired by publications, and this is a way to at least get our voices in there while building a résumé." Machado adds that AB 5 strikes her as ironic given recent efforts to diversify entertainment coverage, including Time's Up Critical and CherryPicks. "With all the efforts being made to diversify Hollywood and diversity who's covering Hollywood, this is going to be a huge setback in that too, because this is where we're employed, as freelancers," she says.
Kristen Lopez, a freelance entertainment writer who has written for Remezcla, RogerEbert .com and THR, notes that the legislation will particularly impact the disabled writer community. "I'm not just dealing with the concept of freelance in terms of trying to make sure I can pay my bills, but freelancing is really the only job that I can do from home, that I can do without angering the [Social Security Disability Insurance] system," Lopez says. She adds, "Freelancing allows me to have a job that I can do without affecting my health, without affecting the disability money that I get, which is not a lot, but it balances out with how much I make that allows me to live, not necessarily wealthily, but comfortably."
Writers who are parents have been particularly outspoken about the law. "Working with a baby at home is easier to do when I have my own schedule to work from, as opposed to a 9 to 5," says Aaron Pruner, an entertainment journalist and parenting and lifestyle columnist for The Washington Post (as well as a young father)."
Much like minimum-wage laws, employment restrictions like this predominantly hurt marginalized communities - women, people of color, and the disabled
"Everybody Is Freaking Out": Freelance Writers Scramble to Make Sense of New California Law
excerpt
"Moreover, several freelance journalists who spoke with THR say that freelancing allows them not only to fill in the gaps of newsrooms' coverage but to keep working as journalists in an industry with baked-in biases. Newsrooms in the U.S. are predominately white, with 77 percent of newsroom employees identifying as non-Hispanic whites, according to a 2018 Pew Research Center study. While demographic information about freelance journalists is thin on the ground, Upwork and the Freelancers Union's 2019 survey of U.S. freelancers overall found that 62 percent of participants identify as white, compared with 66 percent in the general working population.
Yolanda Machado, an L.A.-based freelance film critic for The Wrap and writer for GQ, Shondaland and Harper's Bazaar, says that she's found people of color only tend to get hired as freelancers: "We don't get hired by publications, and this is a way to at least get our voices in there while building a résumé." Machado adds that AB 5 strikes her as ironic given recent efforts to diversify entertainment coverage, including Time's Up Critical and CherryPicks. "With all the efforts being made to diversify Hollywood and diversity who's covering Hollywood, this is going to be a huge setback in that too, because this is where we're employed, as freelancers," she says.
Kristen Lopez, a freelance entertainment writer who has written for Remezcla, RogerEbert .com and THR, notes that the legislation will particularly impact the disabled writer community. "I'm not just dealing with the concept of freelance in terms of trying to make sure I can pay my bills, but freelancing is really the only job that I can do from home, that I can do without angering the [Social Security Disability Insurance] system," Lopez says. She adds, "Freelancing allows me to have a job that I can do without affecting my health, without affecting the disability money that I get, which is not a lot, but it balances out with how much I make that allows me to live, not necessarily wealthily, but comfortably."
Writers who are parents have been particularly outspoken about the law. "Working with a baby at home is easier to do when I have my own schedule to work from, as opposed to a 9 to 5," says Aaron Pruner, an entertainment journalist and parenting and lifestyle columnist for The Washington Post (as well as a young father)."
