California's bid to protect Uber drivers likely to hurt freelancers

Vox Media cut more than 200 California freelancers, citing the new law. The transcription service Rev told its freelancers that it would be leaving California

Gloria Rivera likes the freedom of freelance. She moved to San Diego from Peru in 2005 and has a bustling career as an interpreter and translator for doctors, courts and conferences.

Now, as a new California law governing freelancers is set to take effect on Wednesday, her clients are wary. They are asking for more paperwork. Some services are hitting pause on hiring Californians at all.

“Everyone’s scared in California,” Ms. Rivera, 42, said. “Who’s going to hire me as an employee for three assignments a month?”

The new law, Assembly Bill 5, will radically reshape freelance work in California. Prompted in part