UC Law SF Professor, Academic Leaders Call for Support of AB5

UC Law SF Professor Veena Dubal alongside 75 professors from across the country have signed a letter calling on the U.S. Senate to support AB5, a law that would force the gig economy giants like Uber and Lyft to classify its workers as employees instead of independent contractors.

Among the letter’s 75 signatories are Stanford Law School Professor Emeritus William B. Gould IV, Berkeley Law Professor Catherine Fisk, and David Weil, dean and professor at Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University.

“We write as academics (including law professors, labor economists, political scientists, sociologists, and historians) from across the country who have studied the intersections of law, regulation, misclassification, the platform economy, and/or precarious work. As a legal matter, we unequivocally support the California Supreme Court’s decision in Dynamex v. Superior Court of Los Angeles (2018) and AB5, the legislative effort to make employee-status the default under state law and to codify the ABC test…We oppose attempts to carve gig workers out,” the letter reads.

The letter concludes by urging the legislature to “lead the world—with the strongest law on record to protect workers from misclassification.”

The letter, drafted by Dubal, was submitted to Gov. Gavin Newsom, Senate President pro Tem Toni Atkins (D-San Diego), and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Los Angeles).

Read the full letter below.