Truckers’ Loss in Calif. Contractor Fight Won’t End Legal Battle

The California trucking industry is pressing the argument—so far without gaining much traction—that its drivers should be classified as contractors, not employees.

Their efforts come amid uncertainty roiling employers that fear California’s new rigid test for determining who qualifies as a contractor will threaten their business models.

The Western States Trucking Association recently lost its challenge to the worker classification standard known as the “ABC test,” which the California Supreme Court adopted last year in Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court. A federal judge in the U.S District Court for the Eastern District of California dismissed the association’s ...