A group of computer-directed drivers, ride-sharing drivers, labor unions and consumer activists have launched a lawsuit designed to overturn California’s Proposition 22, which exempted transport companies from having to pay their independent contractor drivers benefits as employees.
Opponents of Prop. 22 claim the initiative violated the State Constitution and should be abolished.
The lawsuit, filed in the California Supreme Court on Jan. 12, also claims the proposition limits the power of elected officials to regulate organizing workers and worker’s comp programs.
“We look forward to the court affirming that gig companies cannot strip workers of their fundamental right to bargain for better pay and working conditions and that corporations alone should not dictate the laws in our state,” Bob Schoonover, president of the Los Angeles-based Southern California Public Service Workers Local 721 Union, told Los Angeles Magazine.
The passage of Prop. 22 prevents ride sharing companies such as Uber from having to treat drivers as employees, providing them with a minimum wage for full-time work, overtime pay, health insurance and related worker protections. Instead, Prop. 22 ensured that such drivers are considered independent contractors.
Opponents also said that the proposition is too broad, covering too many aspects of gig work, meaning short-term, temporary or independent-contractor employment. The critics say a proposition should address only one subject at a time.
“With Prop. 22, they (companies) are not just ignoring our health and safety, they are discarding our state’s Constitution,” Saori Okawa, a plaintiff in the lawsuit, said. “I’m joining this lawsuit because I know it’s up to the people we elect to make our laws, not wealthy executives who profit from our labor. I’m confident the court will see Prop. 22 for the corporate power grab that it is.”
Okawa compared Prop. 22 to Proposition 8, an anti-gay marriage proposition passed in 2008 by voters and struck down by a court two years later.
Supporters of Prop. 22 said it is a legitimate vote and the will of the people.
“Nearly 10 million California voters–including the vast majority of app-based drivers–passed Prop. 22 to protect driver independence, while providing historic new protections,” Jim Pyatt, an Uber driver, said in a statement. “Voters across the political spectrum spoke loud and clear, passing Prop. 22 in a landslide. Meritless lawsuits that seek to undermine the clear democratic will of the people do not stand up to scrutiny in the courts.”