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March 20, 2024
A California federal choose rejected the most recent effort by trucking teams to dam enforcement of Meeting Invoice 5, the state legislation designed to crack down on unbiased contractor misclassification. The March 15 ruling acknowledged that courts “should not the right our bodies for imposing legislative amendments.”
“Remedying complexities and perceived deficiencies in AB 5 are the form of work higher left to the cleaning soap field and the poll field than to the jury field,” US District Decide Roger Benitez wrote in his resolution. “If adequate political or financial strain will be delivered to bear by plaintiffs and their supporters, the extra onerous provisions of the statute will be amended.”
AB 5, handed in 2019, codified into legislation the California Supreme Courtroom’s Dynamex resolution that put the “ABC” unbiased contractor classification check in place.
“In impact, the operation of AB 5 deems most, if not all, freight hauling drivers driving in or into California as workers of a freight hauling enterprise,” Benitez wrote.
The choose not solely didn’t order a brand new injunction but additionally tossed out the case, FreightWaves reported. Benitez is similar choose that handed down a New Yr’s Eve 2019 preliminary injunction that stored AB 5 out of the state’s trucking sector for a number of years, legislation agency Benesch reported in a JD Supra weblog submit.
That ruling was later reversed on attraction. Then the choose on March 15 rejected the trade’s newest authorized arguments, as an alternative ruling in favor of California’s legal professional normal and the Worldwide Brotherhood of Teamsters. In consequence, absent an attraction, the trucking trade will stay topic to AB 5 simply because it has been ever for the reason that US Supreme Courtroom declined to assessment the topic in June 2022.
The California Trucking Affiliation and the Proprietor-Operator Impartial Drivers Affiliation filed the lawsuit, with state Legal professional Basic Rob Bonta and the Teamsters because the defendants.
“AB 5 was enacted to deal with a widespread drawback of employee misclassification, together with within the trucking trade, and utility of AB 5 on this sector serves the essential pursuits of guaranteeing that workers obtain advantages assured by legislation, together with minimal wage, unemployment insurance coverage, sick depart and others,” Bonta stated in a press assertion. “This try and invalidate the applying of AB 5 to the trucking trade is not going to stand. The California Division of Justice will proceed to defend this essential legislation and get up for the rights of employees to obtain the advantages and protections to which they’re legally entitled.”
Appeals of final week’s resolution within the US District Courtroom for the Southern District of California are doable, based on FreightWaves. Nonetheless, the authorized battle that has gone on for greater than 4 years could show too large a problem to proceed.
OOIDA continues to be reviewing the ruling, a consultant informed SIA in an electronic mail. “OOIDA disagrees with Decide Benitez’s ruling and the reasoning behind it and is exploring all choices transferring ahead — together with an attraction,” they acknowledged.
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