The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently upheld California’s independent contractor statute (AB 5) which adopted the ABC test for classifying workers. The ABC test says that a worker is an employee unless the hiring entity can show:
(A) that the worker is free from the control and direction of the hirer in connection with the performance of the work, both under the contract for the performance of such work and in fact;
(B) that the worker performs work that is outside the usual course of the hiring entity’s business; and
(C) that the worker is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, or business of the same nature as the work performed for the hiring entity.
Labor Uniions and California’s Attorney General celebrated the decision.
In a Victory for Workers, Panel Sides Against Uber, Postmates
Sacramento, CA – (Monday, June 10, 2024) – Today, an en banc panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed in the case Olson v. State of California that Assembly Bill 5 is constitutional. This case was originally brought by Uber and Postmates alleging AB 5 violated the Equal Protection Clause.
“Today the 9th Circuit en banc affirmed that AB 5 is in fact a Constitutional law. This is a victory for all workers in the state, but especially the chronically misclassified workers in rideshare and delivery jobs,” said Lorena Gonzalez, principal officer of the California Labor Federation and author of AB 5. “Now, we must continue to seek ways to enforce this law.”
AB 5 is the California law which codified the California State Supreme Court’s Dynamex decision and implemented the “ABC test” to determine worker classification.
The California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO represents over 1,300 affiliated unions in California with over 2.3 million union members in trucking, retail, hospitality, janitorial, construction, health care, local and state government, education, arts and entertainment, warehousing and logistics, manufacturing, and a variety of other sectors.
Source: Ninth Circuit Upholds AB 5 as Constitutional Law – California Federation of Labor Unions
Attorney General Bonta Celebrates District Court Decision Upholding AB 5 Protections in California Trucking Association v. Bonta
OAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta today issued the following statement on a Southern District of California district court decision in California Trucking Association v. Bonta, denying the plaintiffs/intervenors’ renewed motions for preliminary injunction and ruling that AB 5 does not violate the constitution as applied to the trucking industry.
“We’re pleased that the district court got this one right, and upheld AB 5’s protections,” said Attorney General Bonta. “AB 5 was enacted to address a widespread problem of worker misclassification, including in the trucking industry, and application of AB 5 in this sector serves the important interests of ensuring that employees receive benefits guaranteed by law, including minimum wage, unemployment insurance, sick leave, and others. This attempt to invalidate the application of AB 5 to the trucking industry will not stand. The California Department of Justice will continue to defend this important law and stand up for the rights of workers to receive the benefits and protections to which they are legally entitled.”
