Tech, Business Advocates Back Uber, Postmates’ AB 5 Challenge

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and two technology-industry advocacy groups urged a California federal court to allow Uber and Postmates to block enforcement of the state’s new worker classification law against gig-economy workers, arguing it violates their members’ constitutional right to contract freely.

California’s AB 5 “dramatically restricts the freedom of businesses and individuals to contract” and poses an imminent threat to existing contractual relationships that businesses have with hundreds of thousands of independent contractors, the Chamber, TechNet, and Engine Advocacy said in an amicus brief filed Wednesday.

The Chamber represents roughly 300,000 businesses nationwide. Engine Advocacy is a nonprofit ...