Transportation

CA Federal Court Restrains Enforcement of “ABC Test” for Motor Carriers

John C. Lane
Edward J. Schwartz United States Courthouse

A federal district court in southern California issued a temporary restraining order on New Year’s Eve barring the enforcement of the state’s Assembly Bill 5, set to go into effect on New Year’s Day. AB 5 adopted the “ABC test” to determine if a particular worker is an independent contractor or an employee. The test hits particularly hard on the motor carrier industry, because many trucking companies use legitimate independent contractors – owner-operators – as part of their business model. The court’s decision was compelled largely because under the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act (“FAAAA”), states are not to enact or enforce their own laws related to a price, route, or service of any motor carrier regarding transportation of property. The TRO applies only to the motor carrier industry.

The ABC test presumes that a worker is an employee, not an independent contractor. The hiring party can rebut that presumption only if it can establish each of three factors:

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John Lane Named Co-Chair of the Transportation ADR Council

The Lane Law Letter

John has been named co-chair of the Transportation ADR Council, an arm of the Transportation Lawyer’s Association, a nationwide organization of attorneys in corporate, government, and private practice in the field of transportation law. Together with the ADR Council’s other newly-named co-chair, Dan Fulkerson, Esq., of Houston, John will manage the arbitration/mediation apparatus for resolution of legal disputes arising in the transportation industry.

Recognizing the value of alternate dispute resolution and the benefit it would avail to members of the transportation industry, John along with several other TLA members, sought to create a body of rigorously-trained arbitrators and mediators who are experts in transportation law, and a system of arbitration procedures that accommodate the parties. Under the leadership of Steve Uthoff, Esq. and Eric Benton, Esq., they formed the Transportation ADR Council.

In addition to his role with the ADR Council, John is a member of the American Arbitration Association, the New Jersey Association of Professional Mediators, the Garibaldi Inn of Court for Alternative Dispute Resolution, the Dispute Resolution Sections of the New Jersey and New York State Bar Associations, and has recently been accepted as an arbitrator for the Financial Industry Regulatory Agency, FINRA. John also serves as a mediator in the Superior Court of New Jersey.

Learn more about the TLA and the ADR Council at https://translaw.org.