Judge stalls California labor law as it relates to truckers

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By DON THOMPSON

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked a new California labor law from impacting more than 70,000 independent truckers.

The law makes it harder for companies to classify workers as independent contractors instead of employees, who are entitled to minimum wage and benefits such as workers compensation.

Freelance writers and photographers are also seeking a restraining order against the law set to take effect Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez of San Diego granted a temporary restraining order sought by the California Trucking Association while he considers imposing a permanent injunction.

Read more: https://apnews.com/a75f145f08d8577c1a16df4407c2f055

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Also see: https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142413474

[mwooldri]

1. Good. Spirit of the law is good, the writing of it not so good.

The law was put into place to stop Uber etc from abusing the "independent contractor" status of their employees. For convenience sake, there are a lot of truckers who own their own rigs and rather than set up their own authority with the DOT, get their own insurance, freight broker, etc., they go with a company that already has that and work as an independent contractor for them. These independent contractors get to pick their freight; company drivers who don't own their trucks get to haul what's given to them. Though if you do examine this model, it does look an awful lot like how Uber, Lyft, etc., operate except it is much more lucrative to be an independent owner operator than a company driver - even after allowing for the expenses of operating the truck. That's where Uber etc went wrong - the cost of carrying passengers was driven down too low, and their drivers paid the price.

[The Mouth]

2. Pretty much what I hear from truckers

and their friends.

They are independent because they don't want, or need, corporate bosses, but very few really want to undertake the entirety or running a business.

Maybe the smarter thing, as some suggested, is to treat those who make over a decent amount (say $50K) as independent contractors but not the ones getting screwed by Uber and Lyft. All I really know is that must truckers have it hard enough already

[dware]

3. +1. nt

[madville]

4. There should be an exemption for truck owner operators

They don’t want to be W-2 employees. There are already 1000s of unfilled opportunities in most areas to be “company” drivers if they wanted to already be doing it that way. Many easily double their potential income as a contractor, this law forces more profits to the large corporations and lower wages to the truck drivers.

[jgmiller]

5. Well intentioned law that has many bad consequences

It's also basically making it impossible for freelance journalists to work in California. From what I understand most of these groups warned the legislature when the law was being debated but they refused to modify it.

[Chrysanthemum]

6. Lots of freelancers affected

Freelance translators and freelance interpreters, too, have been lobbying against this new law in its current form.