United States of America: Appeal ruling in Lawsuit regarding Worker qualification in Proposition 22 (Castellanos v California)

On 13 March 2023, the First Appellate District of the Court of Appeal of the State of California issued a ruling concerning the appeal of an injunction that determined Proposition 22 to be unconstitutional. Proposition 22 provided for an exception to California Assembly Bill No.5, which laid out a three-step process to determine a worker's status as either an independent contractor or an employee. Proposition 22 specified that "app-based drivers" were independent contractors rather than employees. The Court of Appeal mostly reversed the decision of the trial court, therefore leaving Proposition 22 intact, except for two subsections which would would have restricted the judiciary and legislative's interpretative and legislative powers in respect to issues such as collective bargaining of app-based drivers.