With AB5 about to roil California trucking, industry ponders next step
Injunction that blocked independent contractor law could be lifted within weeks; the choices on what to do aren’t simple ones
Now what?
That will clearly be the question not just in California but in the management executive suites of trucking companies big and small all across the country that do business in the Golden State, given that an appellate court has reversed the injunction that stopped California from enforcing the AB5 law on independent contractors and its follow-up clarifying legislation, AB2257.
The injunction was granted in a lawsuit filed by the California Trucking Association against the state’s attorney general, who is now Robert Bonta but was Xavier Becerra when the suit was filed. Becerra is now Health and Human Services secretary.
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April 29, 2021
Classic bonneted American semi truck with chrome trim and a refrigerator trailer drive on the straight road in the California fields. (Shutterstock)
California’s gig worker law, AB5, does apply to truckers. The law requires employers to provide benefits to workers in gig-economy jobs such as ride share drivers and food delivery. A three-judge panel of the 9th US Circuit Court handed down the decision Wednesday on a vote of two to one to overturn a lower court ruling. The new ruling could apply to as many as 70,000 truck drivers in California who continue to work while classified as independent contractors. The appeals court heard oral arguments on the case in June. The California Trucking Association has vowed to further appeal the decision.
Updated May 3, 2021
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court injunction that had exempted the trucking industry from California s AB 5 law. The injunction could be lifted as soon as May 19.
The leased owner-operator model in California suffered a severe blow Wednesday as the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed an injunction that had exempted the trucking industry from state’s AB 5 law and the ABC test for determining validity of any independent contractor classification.
Transportation specialists Scopelitis, Garvin, Light, Hansen and Feary said the California Trucking Association has 14 days to seek rehearing and up to 150 days to appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court. Scopelitis added that the injunction will be lifted either seven days after the expiration of time to request a rehearing or following a denial of a request for rehearing. Or it could be stayed upon further petition of CTA, such as if CTA seeks review by the U.S. Supreme Court.