App-based gig workers hold demonstration outside Los Angeles City Hall to urge voters to vote no on Proposition 22 in California to urge voters to vote no on Proposition 22.
The California judge on Friday determined that a 2020 ballot measure that exempted ride-share and food delivery drivers from the state labor law is unconstitutional as it infringes on the legislature's power to set standards at the workplace.
Proposition 22 is unconstitutional as it limits the power of a future Legislature to define app-based drivers as workers subject to workplace compensation law, which makes entire ballot measure unenforceable, Alameda County Superior Court judge Frank Roesch wrote in the ruling.
Gig economy companies like Uber, Lyft, Doordash and Instacart were pushing to keep drivers' extra contractors status, though with independent benefits.
The ballot measure was meant to cement app-based food delivery and ride-hail drivers' status as independent contractors, not employees.
Known as Proposition 22, it marked the culmination of years of legislative and legal wrangling over a business model that has brought millions of people to the convenience of ordering food or a ride with the push of a button.