A new attempt to keep California’s independent contractor law AB5 from the state’s trucking sector was thoroughly rejected by a federal judge this week.
After truck parking and broker transparency grabbed headlines in 2023, experts see independent contractor status and truck emissions as top issues next year.
For freight agents attempting to navigate today’s volatile market, partnering with the right company can mean the difference between success and failure.
An NLRB action is being viewed by the Teamsters as providing an incentive for companies to consider independent contractors as employees.
A request by the Department of Labor in an ongoing legal appeal suggests its independent contractor rule won’t be made until August or September.
The so-called Olson case over AB5 draws interest from well beyond California.
Biden’s labor secretary pick says she’s ready to step in if West Coast dockworkers and their employers cannot resolve their remaining issues.
Customers can now tip Amazon drivers by saying “thank you,” but a lawsuit accuses the company of using tips for itself.
A Mercatus Center senior fellow said efforts to classify independent contractors as employees could result in fewer jobs.
Target-owned Shipt has come under fire for allegedly misclassifying workers as independent contractors.
A lawsuit filed in 2019 alleged
that the workers were misclassified
as independent contractors.
More than 300,000 current and former Instacart workers will receive a payout in the San Diego gig worker case.
A new proposed independent contractor rule from the Department of Labor could increase costs for trucking as well as for Uber and Lyft.
Lots of questions remain about how California’s AB5 law will impact the trucking industry in other states.
Using the economic realities test, an appellate court backed a lower-court ruling that a group of drivers were independent contractors, not employees.
The injunction that has kept California’s AB5 independent contractor law at bay since the end of 2019 has been formally lifted.
An appellate court reversed a lower court decision and found that a one-time Schneider independent contractor was actually an employee.
AB5 fallout and freight labor unrest are adding to inflation fears, Republican lawmakers are told.
Some California truckers who move containers in and out of the marine terminals at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach plan to participate in a work stoppage Wednesday to protest a controversial state law, AB5.
As some gig platforms remove fuel surcharges, Gridwise is stepping into the void with a new program offering 50 cents off per gallon.
The solicitor general has advised the U.S. Supreme Court not to hear the appeal of a lower court decision that would require adoption of the AB5 independent contractor law in the state’s trucking industry.
A new complaint filed by NLRB could serve as a focal point in a revision of independent contractor rules.
Last-mile delivery technology provider Dispatch has raised $50M to fuel its expansion across the U.S.
“The Biden DOL will have little choice but to apply the Trump rule or face opposition,” says attorney Greg Feary.
A trio of politicians in Washington is hoping to get funding approved to study portable benefits models for gig workers.
The National Labor Relations Board and Department of Labor are working to change labor laws enacted under the Trump administration to be more favorable to employees.
Whether at the U.S. Supreme Court, the Department of Labor or other venues, Benesch attorney says it’s going to be a lively year for the independent contractor versus employee debate.
Taking a minute to remember there is a human with his or her own needs and desires behind that big rig wheel; freelancers are great if you have a task you hate doing; and bringing back what we outsourced is the new hotness.
New tax reporting standards that go into effect in January could help or hurt gig workers, depending on how their employers react.
In its third pay hike of 2021, Forward Air rolls out its biggest pay package for independent contractors ever.
A strike of Instacart shoppers led by the Gig Workers Collective will take place this weekend.
A pair of lawyers tell a TCA audience that taking steps early can help in later litigation.
California’s AB5 law and it’s impact on owner-operators. E-commerce warehouse solutions, and when will used truck prices decrease.
If the high court does not grant review and AB5 is implemented, the state’s trucking industry will look to a variety of solutions to be able to use independent contractors and still stay in compliance with the law.
Gig economy employers are feeling the pressure to provide benefits and protections to drivers.
TCA firmly believes the trend of California-specific legislation becoming the national standard must end.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has denied the California Trucking Association’s request to rehear the decision that lifted the injunction against California’s independent contractor law.
Conflicting surveys continue to cloud the picture on the best approach to employment status for gig workers, leaving legislators, companies and drivers in a state of uncertainty.
President Joe Biden’s regulatory policy shift has wide-ranging implications for shippers and carriers.
Uber is reportedly close to a deal with GMB, a U.K.-based labor union, to provide representation for rideshare drivers as it works to comply with a recent U.K. Supreme Court decision saying drivers were entitled to minimum wage.
While some organizations blasted the Biden administration’s decision to withdraw a rule on employee classification, executives from Lyft and Uber have struck measured tones.
By killing off Trump-era rules, the Biden administration has lots of room to make big changes in the independent-contractor-versus-employee debate.
FMCSA hours-of-service exemption weighs heavily in a court decision rejecting wage claims against XPO Logistics.
A lawsuit in New York claims that rideshare company Via has refused to pay for and enter arbitration with drivers who believe they are employees and not independent contractors.
The legal reason cited for the withdrawal is the elevation of two principles of “economic realities,” which the Wage and Hour Division says have not been used by courts in the past.
A change in IRS tax code included in the $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill will require sellers and other businesses paying out more than $600 to gig workers to file tax forms with the IRS.
XPO and port drayage are in the Teamsters Union target sights in backing the PRO Act.
Spear says the ATA is spending $2 million to litigate Rhode Island truck tolling.
In today’s edition of The Daily Dash, autonomous-truck startup TuSimple may not be meeting revenue projections, Knight-Swift reports strong Q2 earnings, and a driver misclassification suit against New Prime reaches a $28 million conclusion.
Workers’ comp doesn’t cover owner-operators but misclassifying a driver may prove otherwise at your expense.
A new front has opened up in the battle over AB5 as both sides use the COVID-19 pandemic to bolster their positions on the controversial labor law
PRO Act’s provisions mirror California law upending independent contractor status.
The Protect App-based Driver & Services Act seeks to exempt app-based drivers from the state labor law while providing benefits and safety protections.
Truck owner claims his employer and Amazon worked him “like a rented mule.”
Ben Thrower examines the issues surrounding California’s AB-5, which impacts truckers who are independent contractors.
California’s effort to restrict owner-operators in trucking would create havoc for farm and forest product exporters, says the Agriculture Transportation Coalition.
The legal action targets AB5’s construction trucking-specific provisions.
Assembly Bill 5 limits companies from classifying workers as independent contractors rather than employees to save operational expenses.
Plus: Seattle money play: Convoy wins, Amazon loses
As truckers wrestle with a new California law, AB5, that seeks to limit independent contractors, a trucking organization based in the state has filed a new challenge to a sweeping labor law that will affect them on Jan. 1.
Uber plans to release safety report by end of the year.
Democrats, labor consider California’s AB5 a “good first step”
Law firm Benesch warns legislation will likely raise costs but carriers have options.
“Aggressive” management style has led to driver abuse, senators claim.
A conversation about the future of autonomous trucking with pro-labor author and sociologist Steve Viscelli.
Bill approved in state senate with no carve-out for owner-operators
Barclays and Macquarie estimated that the companies will spend an extra $2,000 to $3,600 per driver annually.
Ruling considered a win for trucking companies.
The study adds fuel to the debate over what defines an employee vs. a contract worker.
California bill affecting owner-operators will die if not on governor’s desk by September 13.
Capitol Hill hearing took on lease-purchase agreements, truck size and weights
Not all independent truckers are seeing those benefits
Potential for added employment costs for trucking companies down the road.
Operating cost savings at stake as company deals with IPO expectations
Uber stands to gain by avoiding wage and benefit costs that accompany workers classified as employees.
Roadrunner Freight has introduced a smartphone app that leverages technology to increase transparency and reduce downtimes for independent contractors.
10-year old lawsuit is win for contractors but driver classification issue remains largely unsettled.
One session at TCA’s 81st Annual Convention, dubbed “Helping Your Independent Contractors When You Can’t ‘Help’ Them,” examined how motor carriers can enhance the experience of the owner-operators they contract without putting the “arm’s length” relationship in jeopardy.
The NLRB overruled an Obama-era litmus test defining independent contractors, giving trucking companies’ defense against unions a boost along the way.
Glider kit investigations initiated by Democrats and Republicans are expected to be concluded in early 2019.
What are the implications for independent owner-operators and the industry that employs them as a result of this week’s ruling in New Jersey?
The court’s opinion in Dynamex v. Superior Court of Los Angeles County has a lot of trucking companies in panic mode, scrambling to figure out how the ruling will affect their business operations. The ruling could also have a profound impact on many tech companies like Uber, Lyft, Instacart, and others that provide on-demand services.
The Court declined to provide guidance on whether the ABC test as a means of determining whether workers are employees or independent contractors under some California wage and hour laws applies to pending cases or only those filed after the opinion was issued. What does it mean?
Commentary: California has turned its back on an industry that employs nearly 1 million people
The decision would seem to raise as many questions as it answers.
New Prime, Inc. v. Oliveira hinges on whether lease-to-purchase drivers classified as “independent contractors” can get out of their arbitration clauses.
With all the cheering from business over passage of the Republican tax plan, the next step in the tax reform journey has now begun: the real-world impact. And it could fundamentally change the way drivers are classified.
