California’s AB 5 – the anti-independent contractor law – was “overturned” for appraisers by a new exemption created under the fix-it bill AB 2257. It went into effect last September, but . . . the problem is that many appraisers and appraisal firms in California misunderstand the exemption it created from the “ABC test.”
I’ll be hosting a free Valuation Legal Update webinar for California appraisers on March 5, 2021, at 9:30 a.m. Pacific to offer a bit of legal insight. The webinar will be 30-45 minutes.
Under the new law created by AB 2257, there’s really no question about whether an appraisal management company’s panel appraisers are properly classified as contractors; that’s easy. The misunderstanding rests with appraisal firms and an erroneous belief that all appraisers can simply be treated as contractors; it’s not that simple. The exemption for appraisers and similar professionals has a number of requirements to be met and that should be addressed in a written contractor agreement. Is your appraisal firm compliant with the law? Is your agreement up to the task? Here’s a dose of reality: what happens when an “independent contractor, staff appraiser” files for unemployment with the California EDD? I’ll discuss several of the key items in appraiser-contractor agreements that I prepare. To be clear though, I won’t be handing out entire sample agreements. The reason is that they need to be tailored to individual firms with a realistic weighing of the risks and benefits.
And, have you recently read about the federal PRO Act? The Protecting the Right to Organize Act (HR 842) instills the very same “ABC test” from AB 5 at a federal level for determining whether a worker is an employee or contractor for purposes of the National Labor Relations Act. It failed to gain support in the last Congress, but it’s been re-introduced, and we now have a much different Congress and presidential administration. Indeed, both President Biden and Vice President Harris supported AB 5 during their campaigns. Does the PRO Act have implications for appraisers? I’ll sort that out.
The webinar is free and on Zoom. Registration at the button below.
Thank you, Peter Christensen
