For decades, Tom Mercaldo, president of Aquinas Consulting in Milford, Connecticut, relied on a combination of full-time employees and independent contractors around the U.S. to serve client needs, scrupulously following longstanding guidelines from the IRS to avoid trouble—and keep everyone happy.
Then came California Assembly Bill 5. In January 2020, the state passed the new law reclassifying who counted as a contractor and who was, at least in the Golden State, now an employee. The law was passed to rein in big tech companies and regulate the emerging “gig” economy, but it swept up plenty of others, like Mercaldo. “They’ …
