Abstract The tests for identifying who is an ‘employee’—the gateway for a multitude of employment rights—have preoccupied generations of labour lawyers. It is relatively rare, however, to see a significant change in the law itself in this area. We are currently witnessing such a rare change in the USA, where a new test called the ‘ABC test’ was adopted in California and is gaining support elsewhere. The new California test starts with a legal presumption of employee status. To rebut the presumption, the hiring party has to demonstrate that all the following conditions are satisfied: no control over the worker, the work is outside the usual course of the employer’s business and the worker is customarily engaged in an independently established business. The goal of this article is examine whether this new test is normatively better than previous tests and should be regarded as a model for legislation in other countries as well. Our assessment is made in light of three benchmarks: whether the new test successfully advances the purpose of labour laws, whether it adopts an optimal balance between selectivity and universalism, and whether it strikes an optimal balance between rules and standards. Our conclusion is generally positive, but at the same time we argue that some modifications are necessary to improve the test and make it a useful model.

中文翻译：

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ABC 测试：确定就业状况的新模式？

摘要 识别谁是“雇员”的测试——众多就业权利的门户——已经困扰了几代劳工律师。然而，在这方面法律本身发生重大变化的情况相对较少。我们目前正在美国目睹如此罕见的变化，加州采用了一种名为“ABC 测试”的新测试，并在其他地方获得了支持。新的加州测试从员工身份的法律推定开始。为了反驳这一推定，雇佣方必须证明满足以下所有条件：无法控制工人，工作超出雇主业务的正常范围，并且工人通常从事独立成立的业务。本文的目的是检验这项新测试是否在规范上优于以前的测试，是否也应被视为其他国家立法的典范。我们根据三个基准进行评估：新测试是否成功推进了劳动法的目的，是否在选择性和普遍性之间取得了最佳平衡，以及是否在规则和标准之间取得了最佳平衡。我们的结论总体上是积极的，但同时我们认为需要进行一些修改以改进测试并使其成为有用的模型。是否在选择性和普遍性之间取得最佳平衡，是否在规则和标准之间取得最佳平衡。我们的结论总体上是积极的，但同时我们认为需要进行一些修改以改进测试并使其成为有用的模型。是否在选择性和普遍性之间取得最佳平衡，是否在规则和标准之间取得最佳平衡。我们的结论总体上是积极的，但同时我们认为需要进行一些修改以改进测试并使其成为有用的模型。