You Can’t Help People by Making It More Expensive to Hire Them

May 29, 2020
By Timothy Sandefur

I spent some time talking with my friends Armstrong and Getty yesterday morning about California’s job-killing law, Assembly Bill 5 (AB5), which deprives workers of the right to choose freelance status. Recently, the Goldwater Institute filed a brief in a lawsuit brought by our friends at the Pacific Legal Foundation, that challenges AB5 on behalf of a group of journalists—since the law limits freelance writers to 35 submissions annually (although some writers, such as poets, are apparently not subject to the same restriction). But the law deprives all sorts of workers of their right to choose the terms of their employment—all to benefit labor unions, that don’t want the competition. If you missed the show, you can listen above.

Timothy Sandefur is the Vice President for Litigation at the Goldwater Institute.