When it comes to hiring workers as independent contractors (aka “1099 workers”), California employers must proceed with caution.  Since Governor Newsom signed Assembly Bill 5 (“AB 5”) into law on September 4, 2020, the very concept of an independent contractor has fundamentally changed.  That law created an initial presumption that a worker in California is an employee unless the hiring entity proves the worker is truly an independent contractor by satisfying a three-pronged test, the “ABC Test”, including the now-infamous prong B that requires the hiring entity to show that the worker only performs work that is outside the usual course of the hiring entity’s business.  The consequence of AB 5 is that, unless an exemption applies, the only workers who will be considered independent contractors are more akin to subcontractors who perform work that is not like work performed by employees in the business.