A California judge has struck down a 2020 tech industry ballot initiative exempting companies from treating app-dispatched workers as employees, saying it unconstitutionally limits the state Legislature’s power.
Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch centered his ruling on a provision in Proposition 22 setting a 7/8ths threshold for the Legislature to amend the law. Opponents have asserted the bar is so high that it robs lawmakers of their constitutional authority — an argument Roesch embraced.
That requirement “is unconstitutional because it limits the power of a future legislature to define app-based drivers as workers subject to workers’ compensation law,” Roesch wrote, and because that section is “not severable from the rest of the statute the court finds that the entirety of proposition 22 is unenforceable.”
Impact: This is a major victory for organized labor opponents who sued to overturn the law after losing to their tech foes at the ballot box, though the coalition of gig companies behind Prop. 22 has already said it plans to appeal the decision. Courts had rebuffed prior legal challenges.
Reaction: Industry groups blasted the ruling, with TechNet saying it "clearly contradicts the overwhelming will of California voters."
Geoff Vetter, a spokesperson for the Protect App-Based Drivers & Services Coalition, vowed to appeal. “We believe the judge made a serious error by ignoring a century’s worth of case law requiring the courts to guard the voters’ right of initiative,” Vetter said in a statement.
Background: Tech companies like Uber and DoorDash spent hundreds of millions of dollars to pass Prop. 22 after the Legislature enacted AB 5, which codified a California Supreme Court decision requiring employers to treat more workers as businesses rather than independent contractors. The companies argued that requirement would devastate their business models.
After failing to win a carveout from Sacramento, gig tech companies went to the ballot. Voters overwhelmingly approved Prop 22 in 2020, vindicating the tech industry and dealing a major blow to unions who argued AB 5 was necessary to protect gig workers from exploitation and secure them rights to overtime and protections like worker’s compensation insurance.
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August 20, 2021 at 08:09PM
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California judge strikes down tech industry's Prop. 22 - Politico
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