9th Cir. Nixes Grubhub’s Bid to Apply Prop. 22 Retroactively (2)

Grubhhub Inc. must continue to defend a six-year-old lawsuit alleging it misclassified food delivery drivers under California’s rigid worker-status test, the Ninth Circuit said Monday in denying the gig company’s push to wield Proposition 22 against one of its former drivers.

But plaintiff Raef Lawson’s attempt to revive claims on behalf of other workers failed. The three-judge panel’s unanimous ruling sent the former delivery driver’s case back to a lower federal court to apply California’s"ABC test,” which makes it harder for gig companies to defend business models that rely on independent contractors.

Lawson sued Grubhub in 2015 for classifying him ...