The California Trucking Association has obtained a temporary restraining order against application of AB 5 to independent truckers. As explained in an earlier post, AB 5 would expressly incorporate the ABC test for employment (as articulated by the California Supreme Court in the Dynamex decision) into the Labor Code.
United States District Judge Roger T. Benitez issued the TRO on December 31, 2019, in a lawsuit that the Association originally filed in 2018. ( California Trucking Assn v. Becerra, Case No. 3:18-cv-02458.) In issuing the TRO, Judge Benitez reasoned that the Association was likely to prevail on its claim that the Federal Aviation Authorization Act of 1994 preempted AB 5 insofar as it purported to apply to independent truckers. The Act provides that a state “may not enact or enforce a law, regulation, or other provision having the force and effect of law related to a price, route, or service of any motor carrier.” 49 U.S.C. section 14501(c)(1). Read Judge Benitez’s decision here.
