AB5, the state’s new gig work law, took effect Jan. 1, and has already changed some livelihoods, with Uber drivers, freelance writers and performing artists among those feeling its impact.

Less well-known gig companies that connect workers to blue-collar jobs are also affected — sometimes to their benefit, sometimes not.

BlueCrew and Wonolo both run on-demand marketplaces for blue-collar gigs. The startups use smartphone apps to connect people to temporary jobs such as warehouse packers, janitors, delivery drivers, forklift operators, line cooks and event staffers.

But the two rivals diverge significantly when it comes to employment. Their contrasting approaches crystallize ways AB5 is changing the work landscape.

BlueCrew has always hired its workers as employees. Now, as California makes it harder for companies to claim that workers are independent contractors, it’s seeing a surge of interest from clients trying to comply with the new law and with Dynamex, the 2018 California Supreme Court decision that AB5 codifies.

Wonolo has primarily hired its workers as independent contractors. AB5 has prompted it to drastically shrink its California operations, essentially ending gig jobs here after the first quarter, although it will keep its headquarters in San Francisco.

“Given the limitations of AB5, we anticipate that we may not be able to allow businesses to post jobs in California as of March 31,” Wonolo CEO Yong Kim said in a letter to its workers. “This means you will see significantly fewer jobs on Wonolo in California. We have not made this decision lightly but have done so in order to protect businesses from any unnecessary risks associated with the new legislation.”

In an interview, Kim said that the move, which he characterized as “de-emphasizing” rather than exiting California for good, was a matter of principle in creating a “workers-first company.” Wonolo wants the freedom to devise its own modern ways to meet workers’ needs and feels it would be hamstrung here, he said.

“We want to continue to focus on introducing creative solutions for Wonoloers and other gig workers without being pulled into the (employee versus independent contractor) classification discussion,” Kim said.

He ticked off a list of reasons that employment wouldn’t make sense for his workers. Many work at multiple companies in a month; many lack even a resume and work at Wonolo helps them to gain experience; many already work at places like Walmart and Sears and use Wonolo to supplement their incomes.

Echoing arguments made by Uber, Lyft and other gig companies, Kim said that what blue-collar gig workers want “is flexibility and autonomy of their schedule, working when and where and for whom they want.”

At the same time, he said, they’d like access to traditional benefits such as health care, he said, and he’d like to explore new ways to provide those. For instance, since non-employees are not covered by workers’ compensation benefits, Wonolo offers its gig workers occupational accident insurance for similar coverage, he said.

Wonolo will host job fairs for its California workers and try to place some as employees at its clients. More than 20 clients have asked to convert some of Wonolo’s gig workers into employees, the company said.

Walking away from California, its largest market by far, “will be a financial burden to us,” Kim said, but the business is growing elsewhere in the country. “It’s a drastic move, but we stand for what we think is the right thing for providing new kinds of benefits for Wonoloers and other gig workers.”

By contrast, BlueCrew, based in Chicago with offices in San Francisco, has received dozens of client inquiries and new customers since the Dynamex decision in April 2018, and that intensified leading up to AB5’s Jan. 1 implementation, said CEO Adam Roston.

“Over the past few months there was a steep change of interest in California in what we offer,” he said. “We are designed to access workers quickly on demand but are also a compliant solution because 100% of our workers are (employees). Customers are coming to us who were using gig labor because they’re no longer comfortable with that.”

Big companies generally were already compliant, “but that still leaves a lot of people who were testing the waters with (independent contractors) and realize that’s not going to work any more,” he said.

In California’s tight labor market, most of BlueCrew’s jobs pay about 50% above minimum wage — or else it couldn’t attract workers, he said. The company covers mandated benefits such as workers’ compensation and disability insurance.

Workers who put in 30 hours or more a week are entitled to health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. While the average BlueCrew worker does about 25 hours a week, he said “a substantial percentage” qualify for insurance coverage. BlueCrew does not try to cut off workers’ hours before they reach the threshold to qualify, he said. However, employee protections such as overtime and sick pay are more valued by many blue-collar workers who live paycheck to paycheck, he said.

Workplace attorneys had varying reactions to Wonolo’s decision.

“The requirement to treat the people that work with you as minimum-wage employees doesn’t seem like it should be an insurmountable barrier to doing business in a state,” said Rachel Williams Dempsey, an attorney at San Francisco’s Outten Golden, which represents workers in labor cases.

Veena Dubal, a law professor at UC Hastings who advocates for gig workers, said she’s not upset to see Wonolo exit California, calling it “a precarious and exploitative app that digitizes day labor.”

“Access to workers’ comp is huge in the warehousing world, which is incredibly dangerous,” she said, and said she sees Wonolo’s injury insurance as subpar by contrast.

But Tiffanny Brosnan, a partner at Orange County’s Snell & Wilmer and an employment lawyer representing management, said she worries about companies leaving the state.

“Wonolo isn’t the first, and sadly it won’t be the last,” she said. “AB5 is only one of the laws passed in 2019 making it more difficult for employers in California,” she said. Her examples: AB51, which bans arbitration agreements and AB9, which extends employees’ allowed time to file charges with the Department of Fair Employment and Housing.

John Baum, a partner at San Francisco’s Hirschfeld Kraemer, also an employment lawyer representing management, saw it differently.

“California is a pretty big economy,” he said. “I can’t imagine there will be a significant percentage of businesses that choose not to do business in California.”

Carolyn Said is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: csaid@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @csaid