California Worker Status Test Covers Truckers, Court Says (2)

Truck drivers moving cargo from ports in southern California aren’t exempt from the state’s employee classification test and may be incorrectly classified as independent contractors, a state appeals court ruled Thursday, holding the test isn’t preempted by a federal transportation law.

California’s “ABC test” for determining whether workers should be classified as employees for purposes of claims brought under the state’s wage orders is a generally applicable employment law, and doesn’t have an impermissible effect on prices, routes, or services, as prohibited by the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act of 1994, the court said.

The ruling is a blow to ...