California Worker Status Law Survives Trucker Group’s Ax Bid (1)

A California statute making it harder to classify workers as independent contractors instead of employees survived a challenge from a trucker organization, the Ninth Circuit said Friday in its latest ruling on the landmark law.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association Inc. says the statute, known as AB 5, prohibits owner-operators who lease their trucks to motor carriers from operating as contractors within California. The group failed to demonstrate that the law runs afoul of constitutional protections, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said in an unpublished opinion affirming the denial of a preliminary injunction.

“As OOIDA ...