Is California’s Prop 22 A Blueprint For The Future?

Last November the residents of California told the state, by a fairly substantial margin, to keep their labor employment law mittens off of rideshare gig workers. Proposition 22, designed to ‘define app-based transportation (rideshare) and delivery drivers as independent contractors and adopt labor and wage policies specific to app-based drivers and companies,’ passed with a 58.6% to 41.4% vote.

It was a defining chapter in the ongoing battle surrounding the sharing economy, and to a greater extent, the world of independent contracting.

And Prop 22 goes beyond exempting gig economy rideshare drivers. It may actually be a foundational solution for the challenges that exist in the sharing economy employment puzzle.

It all started, of course, with the California Supreme Court and the Dynamex decision.

That case found the court establishing their own 3 point ‘ABC Test’ that effectively classified every worker in the state as a regular employee. The world of independent contractors looked to be over. The state in response passed AB5, which was intended to define who could still be considered an independent contractor. While the comply with standard employment practices (and perhaps pay those delectable union dues).