Uber, Postmates Ask Court to Toss California Gig Worker Law

California’s worker classification law violates the US Constitution and unfairly favors some parties over platforms like Uber and Postmates, the companies told a federal appeals court Wednesday, while an attorney for the state struggled to defend the law’s justification.

The three-judge panel was skeptical of state arguments that the law was rational in classifying thousands of gig workers as independent contractors while others are deemed employees eligible for employer-paid protections such as workers’ compensation and unemployment benefits.

And the judges questioned Uber’s arguments that California was targeting the companies. “If we agreed with you that the legislature was going ...