This morning the California Supreme Court issued a major decision that will impact companies’ ability to treat their workers as “independent contractors” rather than as employees for purposes of complying with work place laws and regulations.
The case, Ayala v. Antelope Valley Newspapers, Inc., involves hundreds of newspaper carriers in Southern California who delivered Antelope Valley Press newspapers under form agreements that designated them as “independent contractors” rather than as employees of the newspaper publisher. The three plaintiffs that brought the case alleged that Antelope Valley Newspapers misclassified its carriers as independent contractors. They argued that the company had the right to control the newspaper carriers’ work to such a degree that they worked as employees and not as independent contractors. If shown to be employees, the carriers would be entitled to various work place protections under California’s Labor Code.
Because Antelope Valley Newspapers considered its carriers to be “independent contractors,” it paid no payroll taxes, did not provide workers compensation coverage, and required the carriers to bear their own costs for delivering the newspapers. Carriers complained that they were not reimbursed for using their own vehicles on the job and for purchasing supplies. If a court was to find the carriers were employees of the newspaper, then they would be entitled to reimbursement for such out-of-pocket expenses under California’s Labor Code, said Aaron Kaufmann, an Oaklandbased attorney who argued a portion of the case to the Supreme Court as amicus curiae or “friend of the court” on behalf of the California Employment Lawyers’ Association, a workers’ rights advocacy group.