The California Trucking Association, also known as CTA,  is recently dealing with a federal upset after a federal court judge shut down their attempt at blocking a new controversial trucking law. Essentially, California has begun enforcing a law in which independent contractors will have to reclassify their business as a motor carrier employee. This law is California AB5. This law applies to any independent contractor in any industry and requires them to now follow the laws as an employee, hence why in the trucking industry they are seen as motor carrier employees. The CTA filed a lawsuit as they believe the law is simply not applicable to their industry. On March 15^th, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California officially ruled to deny the request from CTA.

This ruling overturned a previous win that blocked the law from California truckers.

The law involves a three step test, referred to as the “ABC” test, in which worker status is determined. What this means is the “employee,” in order to prove they are an independent contractor, has to show that:

1. the worker is free from control and direction in the performance of services; and
2. the worker is performing work outside the usual course of the business of the hiring company; and
3. the worker is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, or business.

However, CTA believes that it is impossible to enforce this for truckers, specifically because of point b. They argue that it will force all owner-operators to maintain motor carrier employees rather than independent contractors.

The CTA maintained an argument that this law was pre-empted by a federal statute. This argument was ultimately then disputed and diminished by the district court that ruled on this issue. The CTA’s fight has gone back and forth, as an appellate court also rejected an attempt to stop AB5, the Supreme Court denied hearing the case, and the district court fully denies the claim they made in their main argument.

 The district case was overseen by Judge Roger Benitez.

In his ruling statement, Judge Benitez said, “In the end, AB 5 does not offend the core constitutional principle of prohibiting purposeful discrimination against interstate commerce.” He continued to express that any other effects and consequences that will come from this law are not provenly discriminatory to the trucking industry, nor show signs of constitutional threat.