Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/990701
68 CINEMONTAGE / Q2 2018 compiled by Jeff Burman I n a ruling that could change the workplace status of people across the state, the California Supreme Court made it harder in late April for employers to classify their workers as independent contractors, write Maura Dolan and Andrew Khouri in the Los Angeles Times. The court put the burden on California employers to prove a worker is an independent contractor, adds the Associated Press. To do this, the company would have to pass each part of a three-part test to prove a worker is an independent contractor: "The worker is free of control and direction, the work is outside the course of business for which the work is performed, and the worker is engaged in an independently established trade or occupation." "It seems like a seismic shift," said Veena Dubal, professor at University of California, Hastings College of Law. "I'm pretty floored by this decision." TRUMP PULLS PROTECTIONS FOR WOMEN WORKERS With little fanfare, President Donald Trump signed an executive order in late March that advocates say rolls back significant victories for women in the workplace, writes Mary O'Hara for NBC News. Trump revoked the 2014 Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces executive order that then-President Barack Obama put in place to ensure that companies with federal contracts comply with 14 labor and civil rights laws. The Fair Pay order was put in place after a 2010 Government Accountability Office investigation showed that companies with frequent violations were being awarded millions in federal contracts. Preventing the worst violators from receiving taxpayer dollars, the Fair Pay order included two rules that directly impact women workers: paycheck transparency and a ban on forced arbitration clauses for sexual harassment, sexual assault or discrimination claims. LABOR MAT TERS California's 'Seismic Shift' on Workplace