California Trucking Association to take AB 5 case to Supreme Court

From Transport Topics.

The association on June 21 learned that the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will not reconsider its earlier rejection of CTA’s challenge to a state independent contractor law. In a court filing submitted the same day as the denial, CTA said it plans to appeal its complaint to the nation’s highest court. CTA also asked the 9th Circuit to leave in place a mandate by a lower court in CTA’s favor until the Supreme Court either declines to hear the case or issues a ruling; that request was granted on June 23.

A three-judge panel in the 9th Circuit overturned that earlier ruling, but CTA sought a review by an 11-member panel of the court. The court declined, setting the stage for a Supreme Court challenge.

The contractor law, widely known by its legislative designation, Assembly Bill 5, or AB 5, adopts a new “ABC test” for determining whether a worker must be treated as an employee for purposes of California’s labor laws. The problem is that the test “effectively prohibits motor carriers from using independent contractor drivers,” according to CTA’s 2018 lawsuit that reached the 9th Circuit last year.

Trade organizations (including American Trucking Associations) representing motor carriers and independent owner-operators alike strongly oppose the new law, which aims to reclassify large numbers of independent contractors as company employees, according to court documents filed earlier this month.

“ATA is pleased that the 9th Circuit has blocked enforcement of California’s restrictive independent contractor law while the California Trucking Association appeals the Court’s ruling to the Supreme Court of the United States,” said ATA spokesman Sean McNally. “We are hopeful that the Supreme Court will ultimately not only take the case, but will see the wisdom of CTA’s argument and reverse the 9th Circuit’s ruling.”

See the complete article online at Transport Topics.