Governor Gavin Newsom shows Representative Lorena Gonzalez the signed Assembly Bill 5. Photo courtesy of the Office of the Governor
Former San Diego Rep. Lorena Gonzalez received a scathing reprimand from the U.S. 9th Circuit Court on March 17 for her undisguised “animus” and “sheer malice” directed at Uber and other companies in breaking her disastrous law independent contractors, Assembly drafted Bill 5, passed 2019.
The self-proclaimed “Latina troublemaker,” who retired from the state legislature in 2022, now heads the California Labor Federation — the same organization that has sponsored AB 5 and overseen numerous carveouts for preferred occupations that have been specifically denied app-based ridesharing and deliveries .
As it turned out, acting like a Big Labor bully while authoring a bill putting hundreds of thousands of Californians out of work did not sit well with the 9th Circuit, which wrote:
“The plausibility of the plaintiffs’ claims is bolstered by the fragmented manner in which the exemptions were granted, and lends credibility to the plaintiffs’ claims that the exemptions were the result of ‘lobbying’ and ‘backroom deals’ as opposed to compliance the stated purpose of the legislation.”
In its unanimous decision, the 9th federal court reinstated the 2019 lawsuit brought by Uber and Postmates and remanded it to the lower court, which erroneously dismissed it in February 2020. Platforms like TaskRabbit and Wag!, while Uber, Postmates and others are “emphasized” with “animus instead of reason”.
“The desire to harm a politically unpopular group cannot constitute a legitimate state interest,” the court wrote. “Plaintiffs plausibly claim that the primary reason for passing AB 5 was the resentment with which the architect of the legislation viewed Uber, Postmates, and similar gig-based models.”
The court quoted Gonzalez’s own scathing tweets, interviews, statements and a Washington Post op-ed, even implying that AB 5 was rooted in “corruption, sheer malice and naked favoritism.”
Indeed, questioning the judges at the July 13, 2022 hearing signaled their dismay at Gonzalez’s “shocking statements” and noted that Uber was the focus of their attention. The plaintiffs’ complaint included a list of derogatory statements made by Gonzalez, such as the designation of Uber’s chief legal officer on September 18, 2019 — the same day Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 5.
In an attempt to defend AB 5’s many inconsistencies before the 9th Circuit Court, the state’s assistant attorney general, Jose Zelidon-Zepeda, shrank under questioning. In a brutal indictment of the law itself, the court wrote: “It is noteworthy that during the hearing the defendants’ counsel was unable to articulate any conceivable rationale for AB 5 explaining exceptions provided by AB 5 in of the amended version have been made.”
It was the second win in a week for ridesharing after a California appeals court upheld that Proposition 22 is mostly constitutional, allowing Uber, Lyft and other app-based platforms to classify their drivers as independent contractors. Gonzalez typically cried badly after that ruling, wryly claiming that companies are allowed to “buy their way out of our state’s labor laws” and that “the system is broken.”
However, she is unusually silent about the 9th Circle’s decision. She now unabashedly applauds President Biden’s recent decision to nominate her friend Julie Su as US Secretary of Labor. From 2019 to 2022, Su was California’s Secretary of Labor, lobbying for the passage of AB 5 and aggressively overseeing its enforcement.
Julie Su’s nomination should be rejected by any US Senator who claims to stand with workers against powerful interest groups. The fight against AB 5 and similar legislation must continue on behalf of all professions and sectors harmed by these destructive policies.
Karen Anderson is the founder of Freelancers Against AB 5.
Comments are closed.