Independent Contractor or Employee?  Better Take a Second Look

Author: Trina Clayton

On April 30, 2018, the California Supreme Court issued an opinion in Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court, which could change the workplace status of people across the state.  With this new ruling, the Supreme Court has clarified the standard for determining whether workers in California should be classified as employees or as independent contractors for purposes of the wage orders adopted by California’s Industrial Welfare Commission (“IWC”).  Most notably, IWC orders apply to issues such as overtime pay and meal and rest break requirements.

The Court’s unanimous decision in Dynamex has particular implications for members of the gig economy, such as Uber, Lyft, and Amazon, as well as members of other industries, including cannabis.

With this recent ruling, the Supreme Court essentially abandoned a standard that California courts had used for 30 years to determine employment status, based largely on how much control a business exercised over wages, hours and working conditions.  Instead, the Court in Dynamex applied the “ABC” standard (used in several other states) which sets out that a California worker is presumed to be an employee, not an independent contractor.  Workers are permitted to be classified as independent contractors only if the hiring business demonstrates that the worker in question satisfies each of three conditions:Read More >