The ATA Chronicle - March/April 2020 - 8

ASSEMBLY BILL 5: WHAT NOW? continued
employee classification, such as loss of a Simplified
Employment Pension-IRA retirement option or
previously fully deductible business deductions that
would now be limited as an employee's "unreimbursed
business expenses."

Ask your lawmakers what they will do to address this
need immediately.

5. Finally, report back to ATA about your experience. Please
send an email summarizing your meeting and the reaction
of your representatives to Advocacy@atanet.org.
Thank you for taking action to protect our professions and
our livelihoods.

FINDING EXISTING OR PROPOSED LEGISLATION ON
WORKER CLASSIFICATION

Your representative and senator need to hear from
you. They and their staff can do their job best when
they understand what affects you most.

Depending on your representative's schedule, you
may not meet them personally but with a legislative
aide instead. If so, treat them just as you would your
representative. These aides are often the "gatekeepers"
and have a lot of influence on their bosses. If an inperson meeting is not possible/practical, send them an
email expressing your concerns and asking them to take
specific actions.

4. Before you go, hone your three-part message:

Tell your story about who you are and how your
profession serves the community. Be prepared to
explain how the translation and interpreting industry
and professions work, how many agencies you work
for during a year, and why the independent contractor/
agency model works best for you and for agencies and
end clients. Tell them if you've received notifications
from agencies informing you that they will no longer
work with you (or only if you incorporate).
Explain how and why you are or will be harmed
without an explicit exemption from the scope of
the law or proposed bill, how it threatens upheaval
of your livelihood and those you serve, and why
its implementation and enforcement would disrupt
and damage your operations and language services
occupations in your state. Discuss the loss of
business and other economic impacts of mandatory

The ATA Chronicle | March/April 2020

A Department of Labor list of 2019 classification schemes
used to determine unemployment insurance in each state has
been posted on ATA's website. (See the link for "Determination
Employer-Employee Relationship" at the end of this article.)4
The situation is changing rapidly as legislatures are moving
quickly to follow California's lead. The information in this
Department of Labor document may already be out of date, or
there may be legislative proposals to change the scheme. Use
the tips below to determine the state of affairs in your state.
1. Try using Google. Search for "mandatory employee
classification" plus your state.
2. Use www.WorkerClassification.com. Click on State
Resources, then your state, to see existing and/or proposed
legislation and news on worker classification. Note that
different legislation and classification tests may apply
for different purposes (e.g., unemployment insurance
and workers' compensation). California AB 5 and similar
legislation mandates uniform application of the ABC Test
for most purposes.
3. Use www.Congress.gov to find the website for your
state legislature. Then use the search function to browse
for pending legislation with keywords such as "worker
classification," "independent contractors," or "ABC Test."

SAMPLE TALKING POINTS FOR CONVERSATIONS OR
LETTERS TO LEGISLATORS (MAY BE ADAPTED INTO A
CALL SCRIPT)
1. Vulnerable populations will suffer the most from an
ABC Test without a language industry exemption. With
at least 500 languages spoken in the U.S., the potential
impact to vulnerable populations would be catastrophic.
Should there be a significant reduction in the availability
of language services, in particular on the interpreting side,
and if companies are forced into the employee model, they
will be much less likely to contract people to work in rare

www.atanet.org

http://www.WorkerClassification.com http://www.Congress.gov http://www.atanet.org

The ATA Chronicle - March/April 2020

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