WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court has decided against hearing the California Trucking Association’s case against a worker classification law known as Assembly Bill 5, or AB5.
The court made the announcement on June 30.
This means that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit’s ruling stands, thus eliminating the preliminary injunction preventing AB5 from being enforced on motor carriers.
AB5 essentially makes it more difficult for a worker to be considered an independent contractor.
Popularly known as the “gig worker bill,” the legislation requires companies that hire independent contractors to reclassify them as employees, with some exceptions.
This has many in the California trucking industry concerned about the future of the owner-operator.
AB5 was passed into law in 2019, but the lawsuit had prevented it from affecting the trucking industry.
“Gasoline has been poured on the fire that is our ongoing supply chain crisis,” the California Trucking Association (CTA) said in a statement. “In addition to the direct impact on California’s 70,000 owner-operators who have seven days to cease long-standing independent businesses, the impact of taking tens of thousands of truck drivers off the road will have devastating repercussions on an already fragile supply chain, increasing costs and worsening runaway inflation.”
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA), which filed an amicus brief in support of the CTA’s petition, said it was disappointed in the high court’s decision.
“With AB5 now set to go into effect, thousands of owner-operators driving in California face an uncertain future,” OOIDA President Todd Spencer said. “California has provided no guidance to owner-operators about how they can work as independent contractors under this new scheme, and truckers will be at the mercy of the courts to interpret how the law will be applied.
“For truckers that have invested their blood, sweat and treasure to create their own businesses, it is dismaying that lawmakers and the courts are forging ahead with this radical policy that dismisses a beneficial business model that has been in place for decades. At the same time, we know this will not be the last word on the legality of AB5 and expect to participate in future challenges to the law.”
Meanwhile, the California Attorney’s General Office heralded the decision.
“We’re pleased with the court’s decision to reject this challenge to AB 5’s application to the motor carrier industry,” a spokesperson said, according to OOIDA’s publication Land Line. “At the California Department of Justice, we’ll continue to do our part to defend laws that are designed to protect workers and ensure fair labor and business practices.”
CTA officials said they believe that AB5 violates the constitution and could force the end of the trucking industry’s owner-operator model. But the U.S. solicitor general recently advised the court to deny the CTA’s petition, saying that AB5 would not have a significant impact on prices, routes or services
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They shut coal mines down and Southern States and provide assistance in retraining and everything for these coal miners they shut down trucking in California and leave these poor bastards stuck with the trucks and no direction
After all it is Commiefornia!!
U mean Communist California?
I am confused about this AB5
And California ruling.
Can someone simplify this debate and what is the alternative for drivers who own their own rigs and don’t forget to mention those independent drivers who work for a person who owns the rig as an independent contractor. I turned down two jobs because the owner operator who had two trucks wanted to pay me like a contractor with a low rate resulting in me being responsible for 35% of taxes that should have been paid by my “employer”.
AB5 was meant to move the California trucking industry away from the lease model, the person that came up with the law was heavily entrenched in, and with the Teamsters, she is now out of office and back with Big Labor, imagine that. This is being done on purpose, destroying legitimate owner operators that chose to lease themselves and their equipment to a licensed carrier as true independent contractors.
In regards to your question, I believe that is how the AB5 law was sold, making it illegal to hire people as employees, but yet paying them as an independent contractor, which is the very business practice you are questioning. It is unethical to do this to a driver, and can lead to years of financial hardship if said driver does set monies aside to pay taxes. Find a good company, there are many out there that will pay you a good wage and do it ethically and legally, not with a 1099.
Obviously you know the difference. (“independent drivers” is BS, if you are hired to drive you are not independent and it was not legal to pay as a 1099 service provider before this law was created for the Unions. PS: This is about the Union owning and controlling the Democratic party. I believe you also know this but do not care about independent entrepreneurs its all about Unions and control. We will all pay more $$$$$.
Here we go again.
It’s hard enough to afford just about anything in this country anymore.
Thanks to those things in dc who own us and run us around like puppets.
It’s hard enough to enjoy life in this great American country of ours.
Thank you to all truckers and owner operators in this country
Keep on trucking to make this country great
God bless us all
It’s a simple fix we need to shut down our trucks do not move them starting in Agust 1st thru Agust 6th
THIS IS A PLANED MOVE BY THE DEEP STATE TO WEAKEN OUR SUPPLY CHAIN AND MAKE US DEPENDANT ON THE GOVERNMENT FOR ALL(FOOD,ETC.)
THEY SAID THERE WOULD BE A FOOD SHORTAGE AND ALL PRODUCTS… HERE IT IS.
SAY GOODBYE TO AMAZON IN CALIFORNIA. THEY USE INDEPENDANT TRUCKERS 100%.
VOTE RED NEXT TIME
From the rest of the USA, thank you for making it easier for famine to hit all of us. You are real idiots!!! To those of tou moving out of CA. YOU DAMNED WELL BETTER VOTE BETTER THAN THIS IN THE FUTURE!
“U.S. solicitor general recently advised the court to deny the CTA’s petition, saying that AB5 would not have a significant impact on prices, routes or services.”
So if it does will they reverse the AB5 on truckers?