The U.S. Supreme Court dimmed the hopes of California owner-operators by denying an appeal by Cal Cartage Transportation Express to overturn the state’s AB5 law.
California Assembly Bill 5 (AB5) took effect in January 2020 as a measure designed to force companies to eliminate the gig worker culture and put people on payrolls. Golden State politicians initially saw this as a pathway to better collect taxes by removing independent contractors who sometimes fail to report low earnings. Wide-reaching industries protested the measure, including app workers for Lyft and Uber. These loosely knit outfits were successful in carving out an exemption by persuading voters to approve Proposition 22. However, independent truckers continue to fight an uphill battle in the courts.
Cal Cartage Transportation played a losing hand in the state’s court system based on the premise AB5 disrupts the long-standing owner-operator model and its relationship with freight carriers. The company asserted AB5 was subject to provisions in the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act that outline services, routes, and pricing, among other items. Unfortunately, the courts sided with California lawmakers. Although the highest court in the land recently declined to weigh in on the Cal Cartage’s narrow argument, no word has come down regarding a parallel case filed by the California Trucking Association (CTA).
“The contributions of California’s 70,000 independent truckers have been vital to keeping the United States afloat during this supply chain crisis,” CTA CEO Shawn Yadon reportedly said. “They deserve their day in court, and we are hopeful that the U.S. Supreme Court will grant the CTA’s petition in CTA v. Bonta.”
Like Cal Cartage, the CTA enjoyed early success at the district court level. But after California elevated the lawsuit to the so-called “Nutty Ninth” U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the notoriously pro-government judges reversed an injunction secured by the CTA. The Ninth summarily refused to allow the CTA to make its case to a full panel of judges. Now, like Cal Cartage, the hopes of maintaining owner-operator business rights rest with the U.S. Supreme Court.
Independent truckers associated with the CTA lawsuit must also contend with a 2018 ruling reached in the Dynamex Operations West case. The case created a three-prong test to determine whether truckers are considered independent contractors or employees based on the following criteria.
- The worker is free to perform services without the control or direction of the company.
- The worker is performing work tasks that are outside the usual course of the company’s business activities.
- The worker is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, or business of the same nature as that involved in the work performed.
Overcoming the second prong of the court’s test could prove to be a Herculean effort. Independent truckers perform core activities for freight carriers and fleet operations. Uber and Lyft, among others, were only able to bypass AB5 by securing enough votes to drag Proposition 22 across the finish line. Reports already indicate the California owner-operators have already begun relocating to other states as a fallback position to maintain their independent status.
Sources: reuters.com, ccjdigital.com
This is what happens when DEMOCRATS and their misfits are control Goverment .
The thought police directed the ministry of truth to direct the people that 2+2=5 !.
The U.S. is moving away from free markets and towards a more socialist model, with a declining dollar on track to erode Americans’ wealth over time,
“We don’t need any new legislation. We need to get rid of all the existing legislation. If I were President, I would just veto everything,” “It’s interesting, Donald Trump vetoed fewer bills…if you want to find a President that vetoed fewer bills than Trump and served a full four-year term, you have to go back to the 1880s.”
The present model is Socialism. The WEF and others want a one world government that would be akin to communism /totalitarian.
Contract haulers at Port of Los Angeles have become price takers. They work for about $30,000 a year in one of the most expensive cities in the world with homes averaging $800,000, by having new immigrant drivers pack their living rooms with 8 people renting beds. President Ronald Reagan should have never removed the Tariff from truckers where drivers were guaranteed a price per mile on each route. We made more than twice as much money in real terms. I have little sympathy for contract companies exploiting new immigrants.
These laws stop individuals owning their own labor and forcing them “back on to the reservation”
Stop delivering or shipping in or out of California and see how long their nutty ninth politically seated judges last in office.
As an owner operator for years, I recommend every California owner operator pull out of the State of California and refuse all loads to and from California. Let them fend for themselves and see just how hard it is. California is a congressional test state and they have been screwing drivers and Americans for years. Here’s your sign boys!
How anybody can live and work in such an atrocious state, so business unfriendly, is beyond me. Let them starve.
This is why there’s full ships in the harbor.
If you think the freight coming out of California is paying good now wait until those idiots shoot thereselves in the foot by forcing this Bill into law. I only go out there when freight is above average because of the crazy laws especially now with covid-19 and the insane fuel prices. If they inact this bill I won’t touch freight for less than triple what anyone else in the country is shipping for.
James can’t construct a coherent sentence. So I will follow him anywhere, at a distance.
Trucking companies have been ripping drivers off with the lease the truck model for a long time something has to happen
this is also why the ports are all backed up and ships can’t get into the port to deliver or pick up containers . Sort of how the post office was last year at Christmas time .
The current owner-operator model of leasing on to a trucking company skirts statutory employee rules. Example: I am leased to Tanker Yanker A. There is a clause that allows me to seek freight on my own. However, I must seek approval from TYA inorder to accept this work. In a true Independant Contractor role, I would be able to freely seek loads from 10 different brokers or companies. The side of my truck shouldn’t just have the one company to which I am leased. The side of my truck should say; Authorized Transport for TYA, ABC, CBS etc. It should be mandatory I use my own DOT #, insurance etc, and my electronic device should be able to receive work assignments from all the companies. My ELD information access should not be witheld from me. I should have access to any video recorded. I shouldn’t be required to get a DOT PHYSICAL when I switch carriers. I should be able to present my card or electronic verification.
OOIDA is not protecting driver’s interest in many facets of the industry.
I wrote when this law came into effect, that a rude awakening is coming to drivers. If you are a leased driver, under today’s rules you are nothing more than a COMPANY DRIVER WITHOUT BENEFITS.
Can you give me the number to that guy in Atlanta to get my cdl back it’s not posted anymore?