Worker status: employees: independent contractors: health care providers: COVID-19.

Existing law requires a 3-part test, commonly known as the "ABC" test, to determine if workers are employees or independent contractors for purposes of the Labor Code, the Unemployment Insurance Code, and the wage orders of the Industrial Welfare Commission. Under the ABC test, a person providing labor or services for remuneration is considered an employee rather than an independent contractor unless the hiring entity demonstrates that the person is free from the control and direction of the hiring entity in connection with the performance of the work, the person performs work that is outside the usual course of the hiring entity's business, and the person is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, or business. Existing law charges the Labor Commissioner with the enforcement of labor laws, including worker classification. Existing law exempts specified occupations and business relationships from the application of the ABC test described above. Existing law, instead, provides that these exempt relationships are governed by the multifactor test previously established in the case of S. G. Borello & Sons, Inc. v. Department of Industrial Relations (1989) 48 Cal.3d 341. On March 4, 2020, the Governor declared a State of Emergency in accordance with the powers vested in the Governor under the California Constitution and statutes in order to preserve public health and safety throughout the state due to the threat of COVID-19. This bill would, during the timeframe in which a state of emergency is in effect due to COVID-19 and 90 days thereafter, prohibit the application of the ABC test for respiratory therapists and other medical personnel not otherwise covered by an existing exemption from the ABC test, and would instead require that the multifactor test set forth in the case of Borello apply.