AB 5 is the most important state law in decades to address widespread inequality by raising wages for workers and holding corporations accountable. Rather than comply with the law to provide workers with basic protections and economic security, big corporations embarked on a spending frenzy to overturn it. Today’s lawsuit by Uber and Postmates is completely without merit and shows how little these massive tech companies care about their own workforce or workers in other industries who stand to benefit from AB 5.

The California Supreme Court ruling in the Dynamex case – the foundation for AB 5 – was unanimous, establishing a simple A-B-C test for companies to follow to determine if workers are employees or independent contractors. Gig companies seeking to continue cheating drivers by calling them independent have repeatedly failed this test. AB 5 also clarified the decision to address conflicts in current law for some industries while ensuring that those acting as true independent contractors would continue to be able to do so under the law.

Gig companies built entire business models on the pernicious practice of misclassification. Instead of recognizing their drivers as partners in the companies’ success and providing a fair wage and basic protections like workers’ compensation if injured on the job, paid sick days and family leave, these companies deny workers what they deserve under the law.

 

The California labor movement will fight against these disingenuous efforts to overturn AB 5 and roll back workers’ rights. AB 5 is landmark legislation that tackles one of the biggest issues undermining economic security for workers across industries. We’re not about to allow greedy corporations to flout the law or delay its implementation with meritless lawsuits.