New Ruling Offers Employment Protections to Many Independent Contractors

A recent opinion by the California Supreme Court has made clear that delivery drivers and others who do work that is a normal part of the company’s business must be treated as employees, not independent contractors.

On April 30, 2018, the California Supreme Court issued its opinion in Dynamex v. Superior Court (S222732). The ruling in Dynamex is important because it holds that a company must treat workers as employees unless the company can meet the three-factor “ABC” test. Among other things, the company must prove that the worker being treated as an independent contractor “performs work that is outside the usual course of the hiring entities business.”

This means that people Who work in the core business of their employer must now be treated as employees. The California Supreme Court specifically pointed to the important policy of protecting these workers:

“In recent years, the relevant regulatory agencies of both the federal and state governments have declared that the misclassification of workers as independent contractors rather than employees is a very serious problem, depriving federal and state governments of billions of dollars in tax revenue and millions of workers of the labor law protections to which they are entitled.”

—California Supreme Court

If you have been treated as an independent contractor while doing work that was the normal part of the company’s business, contact us. You may have important claims against the company and you may be able to help other workers like you receive the benefits and protections to which they are entitled.

Employers that misclassified employees as independent contractors can be liable for substantial payments of wages and penalties including overtime compensation, reimbursement of business expenses, and other payments. If you have worked as an independent contractor in California, contact us for a free evaluation of your claims.

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