Julius Young
Workers have won a big victory in the Federal courts, as the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that AB-5 can be enforced against the California trucking industry, and is not “pre-empted” by a Federal law known as the Federal Aviation Authorization Act of 1994.
The California Trucking Association and two independent owner-operators had filed a lawsuit alleging that the “F4A” law precluded application of AB-5. AB-5, passed in 2019, codifies the “ABC test” adopted to define employment status in the California Supreme Court case known as Dynamex. They obtained an injunction at the Federal District Court level, preventing AB-5 from being enforced against any motor carrier doing business in California. But on appeal, the trucking companies have lost, and the Teamsters and owner operators who believe they were misclassified have won.
May 4, 2021 2:00 PM, EDT
Shortage of Truck Drivers Concerns California Ag Producers
A forklift moves pallets of yellow sweet corn into a refrigerated truck. (Mark Elias/Bloomberg News)
A worsening shortage of truck drivers is raising concerns among California farmers that, unless a solution emerges soon, there might not be enough hauling capacity to bring this year’s harvest to market.
California Trucking Association said initial indications suggest the shortfall could be as high as 30% because of a confluence of factors, including an aging workforce and some drivers possibly choosing to collect unemployment benefits rather than return to work during the pandemic.
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Have you heard of Schrödinger’s cat? It’s not a real cat, like Felix or Brian Setzer. It’s a hypothetical, seemingly impossible cat that exists only in the world of quantum physics. Schrödinger’s cat refers to a thought experiment in which a cat in a box is simultaneously alive and dead, until you open the box and observe the cat. Then, stubborn as cats are, it will be only one or the other – and that’s when you realize you prefer dogs anyway.
9th Circuit Lifts Stay on Labor Law Classifying Truck Drivers as Employees
A federal appellate court on April 28 reversed a ruling that prevented California from enforcing a new labor law that trucking companies contend will force them to discontinue the use of independent owner-operators and classify all drivers as employees.
In a 2-1 decision, a panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found that a federal judge in San Diego abused his discretion by issuing an injunction that prevented the state labor commissioner from enforcing Assembly Bill 5, passed in 2019.
The legislation codified a Supreme Court ruling that created a strict test for determining whether a worker is an employee or independent contractor and created a presumption that truck drivers are employees unless terms of that test are met.
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