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IC Roundup: Arbitration, AB 5 and Prop 22

An appeals court upheld an order compelling arbitration in Grubhub and Postmates’ drivers misclassification lawsuits; a hearing about another injunction blocking California’s AB 5 is scheduled for May, while another court is considering the constitutionality of the state’s Prop 22.

Postmates, Grubhub drivers must arbitrate. The US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed lower courts’ rulings compelling arbitration in the separate cases of Immediato v. Postmates and Levine v. Grubhub, Montaq reports [1]. In sum, the court held that Postmates and Grubhub couriers are not actively engaged in the interstate transport of goods and, thus, are not within a class of workers exempt from arbitration under Section 1 of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), 9 U.S.C. Section 1.

Prop 22 constitutionality. A California appeals court heard oral arguments yesterday in San Francisco over whether it should uphold a lower court’s ruling that California’s independent contractor law, Proposition 22, is unenforceable and unconstitutional, the Los Angeles Times [2] reported. The law, which allows ride-hailing and delivery services to classify their workers as independent contractors rather than employees, was initially approved by California voters in November 2020. However, it was later declared invalid by a judge in 2021 [3] on the grounds that it violated the state’s constitution.

AB 5 injunction. A federal district court in California won’t hold a hearing for a new preliminary injunction blocking independent contractor law AB 5 until May, FreightWaves reports [4], which means a new preliminary injunction stopping AB 5 from enforcement in the state will not be likely for five more months.

The US Supreme Court decision in June remained silent on the California Trucking Association’s case claiming the state’s AB 5 legislation violates federal law. An appellate court had overturned an earlier lower court decision from New Year’s Eve 2019 that AB 5 could not be enforced against the state’s trucking sector because of what Judge Roger Benitez saw was a conflict with other federal laws.

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