WCDefenseCA

Happy Monday, dear readers!  Your humble blogger hopes your summer is moving along swimmingly and that good weather and good times litter your every evening and weekend.

But, and it brings me no pleasure to do so, I have bad news to deliver!  California’s AB-5, which seeks to force every Californian into either being an employee or an employer, often against the will of all those involved, has claimed yet another victim.

Back in January of 2020 (remember those days, dear readers?  That’s when Corona was a beer and remote working was how quickly you paused the movie when someone called for a bathroom break) your humble blogger reported that a Los Angeles Judge ruled that AB-5 was pre-empted by federal law in so much as it sought to destroy the owner-operator truck drivers of California. 

Truck drivers protested AB-5 heavily when it was first passed into law, including by circling around down town San Francisco blaring their horns repeatedly.

Well, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals had lifted the injunction against enforcement of AB-5 as to truck drivers, and at the end of June the United States Supreme Court declined to hear the California Trucking Association’s appeal, meaning that the injunction is now lifted.

The final result for California?  It appears that truck drivers will likely be able to proceed as employees, including in term of workers’ compensation.  Those that previously engaged their services will have to act accordingly to the increased risk and raise their prices accordingly as well.

Just to put this all into context for my beloved readers: the Legislature in Sacramento was on a witch hunt against UBER and Lyft and decided to go on a thoughtless rampage, crushing various industries and people in the process.  Independent truck driver/operators were NOT victims of some evil plot to exploit them, and often found themselves willing to volunteer time to protest and money to litigate to protect their livelihoods.  It is entirely unclear who the Legislature sought to protect in having AB-5 expand to countless industries, including trucking!

Besides the damage done to independent truck drivers, the damage will be felt by the rest of us for many years to come.  Although your humble blogger loves shopping at Whole Foods, for example, I am well aware that there is no farm on the roof of every Whole Foods location: food is brought in, almost always by truck.  California’s AB-5 has made delivering products from farm to shelf MORE expensive, and that expense will be paid on every grocery store shelf. 

Your humble blogger wishes and hopes and prays that sanity will return to Sacramento.  Of course, your humble blogger has also seen Smokey and the Bandit II and is well aware what happens to those that use laws to incur the wrath of truck drivers…