So much is still unknown about COVID-19 (such as, how exactly it spreads, why the symptoms can range from mild to extreme, and whether you can develop immunity.) It may be impossible to say with absolute legal certainty what is so “unsafe” as to justify a refusal to work. However, the stakes are quite high: refusal to follow a direct order to ‘get to work’ or ‘keep working’ is insubordination and the penalty for insubordination is often termination.

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As the new year starts, it is time for a look back to some of the significant bills passed by the California Legislature this year, as well as a look ahead to drivers’ license changes taking effect in the New Year.

AB-5: Ending worker misclassification

The biggest news out of Sacramento is the passage of AB-5. This bill codifies the Supreme Court’s decision last year in the Dynamex case that drew the line between workers who are employees and those who are legitimately treated as independent contractors.

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Bowing to complaints from the trucking industry, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has proposed revisions to its hours-of-service regulations. Heralded as an opportunity to give drivers “relief from rigid mandates,” the proposed revisions are actually a thinly-veiled attempt to allow companies to limit the quality of driver resting time and extend the overall hours a driver can drive.

Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa condemned the proposed revisions stating: “Trucking is already one of the nation’s most dangerous jobs. 

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It has been over a year since California’s highest court sent shock waves through Silicon Valley, declaring what many considered the end of the “gig economy” in California. In Dynamex Operations West v. Lee, the Court dealt a crucial blow to Uber and Lyft and their business model based on classifying workers as “independent contractors.”

But since the Dynamex decision came down, both companies have gone public making wealthy stockholders even wealthier.

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A California Court of Appeal has issued an important decision expanding the concept of what it means to “report for work” for purposes of eligibility for reporting time pay, which could have significant impact on both unionized and unorganized workforces.

California’s Wage Orders include a requirement that employers pay employees at least two hours of regular pay when employees are required to “report for work,” but are not put to work. In Ward v.

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The Supreme Court issued its Janus decision, allowing public employees to opt out of paying fair share fees, at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time June 27. By early afternoon that same day, right wing anti-union organizations were taking action to encourage employees to stop paying fees and some public employers were already encouraging their employees to do so.

Organized labor, however, was already primed to respond. Within about 24 hours of the Court’s release of the Janus decision,

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The Republican-appointed justices on the Supreme Court have decided that the U.S.  Constitution’s First Amendment makes a mighty club to beat down the Democratic Party, the rights of minorities, and unions. The entirety of First Amendment reads as follows:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble,

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