California’s contractor law has steep implications for trucking: Here’s what your fleet needs to know
James Jaillet
|
@trucknewsJJ
| September 16, 2019
lawmakers late last week passed a landmark piece of legislation that aims to overhaul the independent contractor landscape in the state. In short, it presses businesses to classify more workers as employees, with the potential to impact millions of workers across nearly all industries — from drivers for rideshare companies Uber and Lyft to software coders, hair dressers, nurses, construction workers, dog walkers and even
strippers.
And, of course, owner-operators working as independent contractors and the motor carriers that contract with them. Here’s a primer for how the law impacts the trucking industry and how fleets can comply with the soon-to-be law, currently referred to as Assembly Bill 5 or A.B. 5.
Though California Gov. Gavin Newsom hasn’t yet signed the bill to officially make it law, he’s expected to before the Oct. 14 deadline. If signed, the law will take effect January 1, 2020.
What you need to know: Though not specific to trucking, the law could have major ramifications for fleets and owner-operators who work in the state — including those that aren’t based in California. Trade groups have warned over the past 18 months that A.B. 5 — and
its genesis court case, Dynamex vs. Superior Court — could effectively be an end to the traditional owner-operator contracting model, in which an owner-operator works under the authority of a larger motor carrier.
“Everybody needs to be up to speed and know that the laws in California have changed,” says Chris Shimoda, head of government affairs for the California Trucking Association. “You need to be consulting either your in-house counsel or outside counsel and paying attention to what trade associations are putting out there in terms of information.”
Though the state’s Supreme Court,
via the Dynamex decision, last year issued a ruling that altered how adjudicators (like courts and arbitrators) should determine employee-contractor classification (such as owner-operators leased to motor carriers), the ruling was narrower in scope than A.B. 5.
A.B. 5 codifies into law the the so-called ABC test established by the
Dynamex case for determining employment classification and likely will create regulatory enforcement actions involving the California labor code and unemployment tax code, says Greg Feary, a partner at the transportation law firm Scopelitis, Garvin, Light, Hanson & Feary.
Most relevant to trucking, the ABC test’s B-prong prevents employers from contracting with workers that perform the same work as the business itself — such as contracted owner-operators hauling loads for fleets.
Strategies for trucking fleets to comply with the new law
Do nothing – aka, wait and see: The
Dynamex decision is being challenged in federal court at the 9th Circuit in at least two cases, with a third —
CTA v. Becerra — likely headed there too, says Feary. Those lawsuits assert that federal law pre-empts state law and, if successful, could offer relief to carriers operating in California. “That’s one option – sit patiently and wait on the federal courts to rule,” said Feary.
Cut ties with California: Carriers could decide the cost of doing business in California is greater than the reward and pull out of any California operations to shield themselves from the impact of the new law.
Cut ties with independent contractors: Carriers could end any owner-operator ties in California and decide to only employee company drivers. That obviously has its challenges, says Feary, given the already tough environment fleets face in recruiting new drivers. It also “presumes that owner-operators working under your authority want to be employees,” he says. “Most of them don’t. They have chosen to be independent business entrepreneurs for a reason. They don’t want to be employee truck drivers. Those reasons might be that they want more money or more freedom or both.”
Broker freight to owner-operators: Carriers could choose to work through an affiliated brokerage — either existing or newly established — to broker loads to independent owner-operators (those who have completed the process to obtain operating authority), in lieu of the traditional owner-operator-lessor model, says Feary. “You may decide you’re not going to be a motor carrier in the state and you’re going to broker freight to small motor carriers or to motor carriers period,” he says...
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