CALIFORNIA AB. 5 2019

[rpackelly]

Neither PAs nor NPs can be independent contractors under AB 5.  They must be viewed as employees.  That means that the overtime or break disparities that existed before will be gone by January 1.  Physicians, Podiatrists, Vets, and psychologists can be exempt

[rpackelly]

"Among the other health professionals not exempt under AB 5: occupational therapist, speech therapist, optometrist, nurse practitioner, physician assistant, radiation therapist, licensed professional clinical counselor, marriage and family therapist, licensed clinical social workers, respiratory therapists, audiology.”  CalMatters.org

 

Remember, this doesn’t relate to an exempt or non-exempt employee.......just who can or cannot be an independent contractor.  

[Cideous]

*I am a bit lost here*

[Guest HanSolo]

So PAs or NPs can no longer be a 1099 employee? 

[rpackelly]

That is correct, Hans.  You can be a non-exempt employe, paid hourly, or an exempt employee, paid salary.  But no mor 1099 for PAs/NPs.  

[Cideous]

Wow, kind of a big deal.  You think this will help or hurt PA's in Cal?

[Lightspeed]

I see this as bad because it basically walls off NPs and PAs to forever be employees. Fares poorly for those who want to be independent and striking out on their own. Doesn’t mean another bill can come along to fix that just for NPs and PAs, but it’s one more issue to be resolved, and takes away the cleanliness of it all.

[rpackelly]

Not totally.  Under Cali law PAs can own part of a medical practice, and then the practice can employ you as a PA.     PAs usually working only 1 day a week as a per diem are the ones usually hired as 1099 independent contractors (or were).   They then had to pay all of their social security, Medicare; had no vacation, benefits, sick leave, FMLA, etc.  BUT.......they get to deduct all expenses from compensation.  If they owned part of the practice and were an employee it would be the best of two worlds, except for the loss of all business expense deduction.  

 

CRNAs will really fight this because they are often 1099 contractors collecting their own fees.  

 

Believe me, corporations know how to warp themselves into new legal structures to take advantage of most everything.

[freelancersunite]

Hey everybody. This is really unfair what's going on with AB5 and which medical professions received an exemption, and which ones did not. The law is totally arbitrary and the exemptions are based on which industries had time and money to lobby the legislators in Sacramento. Lawyers got exempted, but paralegals, legal document preparers, and legal translators did not, so now Lawyers can pay another lawyer to do work, but they cannot pay any of those support positions. Nurses got exempted, but Nurse Anesthetists did not. It makes no sense at all! And it's horrible for people who still want to open up their own old-fashioned Family Practice because it doesn't allow a lot of different medical professions to legally work as independent contractors, even though under IRS definition, that same medical practitioner would be considered a 1099 Independent Contractor, not an employee.

Also, when you become a W2 and not a 1099, you can no longer deduct business expenses from your income in the same manner. This law is really unfair and is harming a lot of people. 

If you want help figuring out what's going on with AB5, want to ask questions, or hear about the latest news in the fight against this law, please check out this group on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/217854619311379/

It's called The People v. AB5 and was started by a Democrat Lawyer with blog posts to inform the public and spread awareness about AB5 and encourage helpful discussion about working as independent contractors.