Hosting platforms: independent contractors.

Existing law relating to employment governs the grant of restraining orders or injunctive relief in labor disputes, as defined. This bill would establish for eligible groups of independent contractors the right to organize and negotiate with hosting platforms, and would declare the activity of such a group to be a labor dispute for purposes of injunctive relief. The bill would require a hosting platform to meet and negotiate with a group on specified subjects. The bill would define terms for those purposes. The bill would require that, at the request of the group, a written contract for independent contractor services, entered into on or after the date of the conclusion of negotiations conducted in accordance with the bill, by the hosting platform and a member of that group, incorporate any agreement reached in those negotiations. The bill would require the State Mediation and Conciliation Service to facilitate negotiations, provide mediation services, and investigate any complaint by a group claiming a violation of the negotiation requirement. The bill would require the service, if it finds that there is probable cause to believe a violation has occurred, to bring an action in a specified superior court for injunctive and other appropriate equitable relief to remedy the violation. The bill would prohibit a person from penalizing or retaliating against an independent contractor for taking specified actions within the scope of the bill. The bill would authorize an independent contractor or a representative of independent contractors claiming a violation under this bill to bring an action in superior court for prescribed remedies, and would provide for treble damages with regard to lost income for a willful violation. The exercise of any rights established by the bill would not be admissible as evidence that a person is an independent contractor in any judicial or administrative proceeding. The bill would make its provisions severable.