Ninth Circuit overturns employee-driver requirement at Port of L.A

Maria

Diet Coke
Staff member
Since the case was first filed in 2007, keeping track of the legal tussle between the American Trucking Associations and the Port of Los Angeles has required a scorecard and an occasional Dramamine. On Monday, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals filed an opinion that gave both ATA and independent port truckers a major moment.

The skirmish has been mired in controversial provisions in the port’s ambitious Clean Truck Program. The port was convinced its plan is best accomplished if the independent truckers at the ports become employees. Among other provisions, ATA objected to the plan, which would have motor carriers picking up the bill for new trucks and making independent contractors employees and therefore potential Teamster members.

When first argued a year ago in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, ATA challenged the port’s requirement that drayage operators hire only truck drivers who are company drivers.

The first decision was not favorable to ATA’s case. Instead, the court backed a “concessionaires” program that essentially would have banned owner-operators. The ruling had the potential to squeeze owner-operators out of every port in the nation.

In October of last year, ATA won an injunction to halt the ban and appealed the independent contractor issue to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, stating that the lower court misinterpreted several sections of federal law.

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