The new law, Assembly Bill 5, has generated outrage from a wide range of Californians, from musicians to therapists to truckers and freelance journalists. It requires businesses to classify more workers as employees entitled to benefits like sick leave and overtime pay. But some workers affected by AB 5 say it’s caused them nothing but grief and anxiety.

The Sacramento Bee reports that the Sacramento Jazz Cooperative is a struggling nonprofit, operating on a shoestring budget during its three-year history as it presents Monday night concerts at the Dante Club. Now it has another problem on its hands – the controversial California labor law that requires it to hire musicians as employees.

Since Jan. 1, the jazz co-op has had to contribute to musicians’ Social Security and Medicare, while withholding payroll taxes from their checks. Founder Carolyne Swayze said the law is proving costly to the co-op and threatens its viability, potentially hurting musicians.

“I’m not sure if we can hang in there,” she said. “It might be different if we were in Chicago or LA or New York.”

Many truckers have made a similar argument about the law, saying it inhibits their ability to do business. The California Trucking Association secured a court injunction blocking implementation of AB 5 in its industry, after it argued the law is preempted by the US Constitution because it interferes with interstate commerce.

Placerville resident Lacey Easton says she’s lost work as a professional sign-language interpreter because of AB 5. She’s down to about 15 to 20 hours of work “in a good week.”

“More importantly, deaf and hard-of-hearing people have lost access to communication,” said Easton, who does interpreting for schools, job-training agencies and medical appointments.

She said flexibility is extremely important in her profession; that’s why she’s resisted going to work for a company as an employee. Interpreters have to be “compatible” with the person they’re signing for, and if she’s an employee she’d lose the ability to turn down a job.

Critics of the law are fighting back. Some have gone to court. Uber has vowed to challenge the law at the ballot box – while also changing its ride-hailing platform in an effort to have its drivers remain classified as independent contractors instead of employees.

The company, along with Lyft, DoorDash, Instacart and Postmates, is pouring tens of millions of dollars into a proposed ballot initiative that would allow it to continue classifying drivers as independent contractors. Spokesman Davis White said Uber isn’t withholding any payroll deductions from its drivers’ compensation.

At the same time, Uber has changed its platform as a way of trying to work around AB 5.

Its 150,000 California drivers now have the freedom to choose which rides they accept; previously, they had to pick up a customer without knowing the destination. And in late January, Uber launched a pilot project at the Sacramento, Santa Barbara and Palm Springs airports that lets drivers set their prices. The Uber app matches passengers with the driver offering the lowest fare.