In an action brought by Postmates, Inc., Uber Technologies, Inc., and two individuals challenging the constitutionality of California Assembly Bill 5, enacted by the California legislature to address a systemic problem of businesses improperly characterizing their workers as independent contractors to avoid fiscal responsibilities owed to employees, the en banc court affirmed the district court’s dismissal of plaintiffs’ state and federal Equal Protection claims and its denial of preliminary injunctive relief.
A.B. 5 does not directly classify any particular workers as employees or independent contractors. Rather, under A.B. 5, as amended, arrangements between workers and referral agencies that provide delivery or transportation services are automatically subject to the ABC test adopted by the California Supreme Court in Dynamex Operations W., Inc. v. Superior Ct., 416 P.3d 1 (Cal. 2018), while arrangements between workers and referral agencies that provide other types of services, such as dog walking or handyman services, are subject to the multifactor test set forth in S.G. Borello & Sons, Inc. v. Dep’t of Indus. Rels., 769 P.2d 399 (Cal. 1989), provided certain statutorily defined criteria are met.
Under the deferential rational basis standard, the en banc court concluded that there were plausible reasons for treating transportation and delivery referral companies differently from other types of referral companies, particularly where the legislature perceived transportation and delivery companies as the most significant perpetrators of the problem it sought to address—worker misclassification. That A.B. 5 may be underinclusive because it does not extend the ABC test to every industry and occupation that has historically contributed to California’s misclassification woes does not render it unconstitutionally irrational.
The en banc court did not disturb the prior panel’s disposition of plaintiffs’ Due Process, Contract Clause, and Bill of Attainder claims. Accordingly, the en banc court reinstated Parts III.B, III.C, and III.D of Olson v. California, 62 F.4th 1206, 1220–23 (9th Cir. 2023).
https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2024/06/10/21-55757.pdf