A California Law Regulating Ride-Share Apps Leaves Truckers in Limbo

A California law intended to help gig workers is now leaving truckers in the lurch.

In 2019, the Golden State passed A.B. 5, which went into effect the following year. The bill significantly narrowed the circumstances under which a business could refer to someone as an “independent contractor,” codifying a three-part “ABC test” established under the California Supreme Court 2018 decision Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court of Los Angeles County. As Reason‘s Billy Binion summarized it at the time, “To prove that their workers are contractors and not employees, companies must show that those workers control their workload, perform work that falls outside of the business’s normal scope, and are ‘customarily engaged’ in the occupation or business.” Unless a company can demonstrate those three factors, it must classify those workers as employees, entitled to any rights and privileges thereof.

The bill explicitly targeted “gig economy” companies like Uber and Postmates, which sued trying to block implementation, as well as Lyft, DoorDash, and similar competitors. But the law also applied to a host of other industries that rely on contract or freelance workers, from churches to nail salons.

In early 2020, the California Trucking Association (CTA) won an injunction against the state to prevent the law from being enforced against the trucking sector. But in June, the Supreme Court declined to hear a case regarding a lower court’s reversal of the injunction, effectively upholding A.B. 5.

Now, drivers who own and operate their own trucks are left in limbo, with little guidance on how the law applies to them. The uncertainty could h