In today’s news and commentary, a Ninth Circuit panel reinstates Uber’s Equal Protection challenge to California’s A.B. 5; a reduction in SNAP benefits could trigger a “hunger cliff;” workers at an Amazon facility in Kentucky kick off unionizing effort; and ex-Google employees ask the company to honor parental leave.
Only a few days after a California appeals court held that at least some parts of Proposition 22 are legal, on Friday the Ninth Circuit reinstated a lawsuit brought against California by Uber, Postmates, and two drivers working on those platforms. The lawsuit claims that California’s A.B. 5 statute violates the Equal Protection Clause. Passed in 2019, A.B. 5 codified the ABC test for determining whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor. The law carves out a variety of industries, including “referral agencies” that connect workers and customers, but it explicitly does not exempt delivery companies like Uber. The Ninth Circuit, applying rational basis review, found Uber had “plausibly allege[d] that the primary impetus for the enactment of A.B. 5 was the disfavor with which the architect of the legislation viewed Uber, Postmates, and similar gig-based business models.” The court found support in the “piecemeal fashion in which the exemptions were granted,” including exemptions for “app-based gig companies that perform errand services” like Task-Rabbit and Wag! However, the panel affirmed the district court’s dismissal of the plaintiffs’ due...
Hyderabad: BRS leader Aedla Sudhakar Reddy strongly criticised the statements of HYDRAA commissioner A.V. Ranganath regarding the status of Bathukammakunta. The official had claimed that the place...