A judge’s decision overturning the voter-backed Proposition 22 ballot measure has raised questions about the immediate impact on app-based drivers, what will happen during the appeals process, and its far-reaching effect on other worker classification litigation.
It also led to full-page ads from the California Business and Industrial Alliance (CABIA) in the Sacramento Bee and Los Angeles Times.
“Californians overwhelmingly approved the ballot measure, which won with 58 percent of the vote in the November election,” Tom Manzo, CABIA’s founder and president, told the Northern California Record. “Usually, California courts are reluctant to overturn ballot measures because the move can be seen as challenging the will of the people.”
It’s hoped an appeals court will overturn Alameda County Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch’s Aug. 20 ruling, Manzo said.
Veena Dubal, a UC Hastings Law School professor who co-authored an amicus brief opposing Prop 22, told the San Francisco Examiner that she doesn’t expect the companies to succeed on appeal.
Proposition 22 allows app-based drivers to be exempted from California’s AB 5, a law from which dozens of professions have received exemptions.
“AB 5 has already proven to be a disaster,” Manzo said. “There are now more than 75 exceptions to California’s independent contracting ban. If a law requires that many exceptions to avoid destroying people’s careers, the basic premise of the law is flawed. It needs to be rewritten.”
The lawsuit, filed by three drivers and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), was brought in state court in February, after the California Supreme Court declined to take up the case. The state’s high court ultimately could be asked to weigh in again during the appeals process.
Geoff Vetter, a spokesperson for the Protect App-Based Drivers & Services Coalition, told Restaurant Business that Prop 22 is expected to remain in effect while the appellate court case is resolved.