Assembly Bill 5 has caused a stir in Cam Land

Under Assembly Bill 5 (AB5 for short) California models are facing a possible risk of losing their camming jobs if the bill deems that cam models are not eligible to be independent contractors.

The most notable stir currently happening is that cam site Streamate has seemingly confirmed that they will no longer be allowing California based models to work directly through them, they will have to seek employment through a third party entity. We covered this initial release of information in Assembly Bill 5 Showing Signs of Cam Site Complications and later the contents of the email sent out by a Streamate representative were confirmed as true by a different Streamate representative to the Adult Performers Actors Guild. They released the word of confirmation via Twitter.

Why is AB5 causing issues when it already EXISTS in Massachusetts?

According to section 148B of the General Law in Massachusetts, to qualify as an independent contractor the same “ABC” test that Californians face applies. Streamate has not cut ties with workers in Massachusetts, so why are they cutting ties with Streamate models based in California? Is this simply an accidental oversight that means they will be cutting ties with Massachusetts as well? Or will this revelation ultimately reverse their decision for California models since there have been no legal problems in regards to the law being live and untried in Massachusetts?

As a cam model, what should I do about AB5?

If you are a cam model in California, prepare yourself with a back up plan and savings in case this becomes a wide spread issue. Streamate has confirmed with APAG that they will no longer be allowing models in California to work through them directly. If you are a Streamate model in California, message Streamate support as soon as possible requesting active updates on the situation and keep an eye out for the official announcement that should be coming to your model dashboard inbox within the next week. While this may not be a widespread issue across all of the sites, it is still something to prepare for and keep an eye on just in case it does become a more widespread issue.

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