Here’s something new on the naughty list for many Santas across California: it is AB-5, that’s the name of a controversial independent contractor law that is keeping many santas from working this year.The pandemic, the Santas say, is hiding how ab5 hurts them. Directed at gig-economy giants like Uber, Lyft And Doordash, AB-5 was meant to protect independent and gig workers, providing them with benefits and preventing exploitation, but a wide range of independent contractors and freelancers says that the law hurt, rather than protected, them. That has included many performers who make their living as Santa or Mrs. Claus, the kind of role that by its very nature will not be a full-time job.
