The California assembly has aloof anesthetized a new law, Assembly Bill 5, or AB-5, that will agitate abounding franchised businesses. Although abundantly beheld by the media as a bill about the gig economy, the new law codifies the ABC analysis adopted by the California Supreme Cloister in aftermost year’s Dynamex accommodation as the analysis for appropriate advisers from absolute contractors. Simply stated, the ABC analysis provides that a artisan is an agent of an declared employer unless she is assuming assignment chargeless from ascendancy of the hiring entity, that the assignment is “outside the accepted advance of the hiring entity’s business,” and the being is commonly affianced in an absolute trade.
Isn’t It Far-Fetched To Affirmation That Dynamex And AB-5 Will Apply To Authorization Relationships?
It should be far-fetched, but it isn’t. In the aforetime arise Ninth Circuit accommodation in Vazquez v. Jan-Pro, issued in May of 2019, the cloister about captivated that authorization relationships were accountable to the Dynamex ABC test. The Ninth Circuit withdrew and de-published that accommodation in July of 2019 and the case awaits a rehearing. Following the argumentation of the Vazquez case, it appears that abounding franchisors may be in the aforementioned business as their franchisees which could accordance acceleration to misclassification amercement claims by franchisees and their employees. Additionally, the International Authorization Association lobbied the California assembly to accommodate an absolution for franchising in AB-5, but no such absolution was included.
The Risk to Franchising
A authorization is a authorization to accomplish a business beneath the franchisor’s trademark. Beneath the federal Lanham Act, a franchisor charge ascendancy the affection of the appurtenances and casework associated with the accountant mark. Franchisors advance acknowledged models for active specific types of businesses. A being absorbed in active a franchised pizza business would seek out a aggregation with a track-record of operating acknowledged pizzerias and would not be acceptable to go to Shell Oil or a apparel architect for admonition on how to accomplish pizzas.
Suppose Jon, who makes the best pizza in New Jersey, franchises his arrangement to 100 franchisees in California, who anniversary accept 10 employees, and who—like Jon—are all in the business of authoritative pizzas. The appliance of the ABC analysis to a authorization accordance could calmly actualize a apocryphal absolute result, because there are abounding controls that charge be asserted in licensing a cast and it will arise that all workers and the franchisor are in the aforementioned business. Beneath the ABC test, Jon could now accept 100 new California advisers he does not apperceive and over whom he has no ascendancy whatsoever. Although Jon never hired, appointed or supervised any of these employees, he may be sued as their employer.
Franchising is heavily adapted beneath the California Authorization Investment Law, the California Authorization Relations Act and beneath the Federal Barter Commission’s Authorization Rule. Authorization agreements are bartering business arrangements, usually amid adult parties, that can be active alone afterwards a franchisee has been provided with a abundant authorization acknowledgment certificate and a cooling off aeon has expired. Appliance of the ABC analysis to authorization relationships will fundamentally agitate a bartering accordance both parties accept called to access into voluntarily.
Doesn’t AB-5 Simply Codify the Dynamex decision?
In part, but the new law goes able-bodied above Dynamex. Although Dynamex was bound to allowance and hour claims only—which mainly awning minimum wage, overtime and meal and blow breaks—AB-5 covers the absolute Activity Code including Activity Code § 2802, which requires an employer to pay the costs and losses incurred by an agent at the appeal of his employer . This is a abeyant neutron bomb beneath AB-5.
Suppose Bob opens bristles Jon’s Pizza franchises in California but loses money at all of his locations. Based on Dynamex and AB-5, Bob can sue Jon for appliance benefits, claiming that he qualifies as Jon’s agent beneath the ABC analysis because he is additionally in the pizza business. In accession to gluttonous amercement from Jon for contributed overtime and absent meal and blow breaks, Bob could additionally affirmation that all of the money he spent to run the restaurants, including hiring employees, acquittal of rent, and added operational costs would be “expenses and losses” beneath Activity Code § 2802 that Jon will now owe to Bob. Jon may additionally be sued in a chic activity by Bob’s employees, who will affirmation that they are additionally in the pizza business and that Jon is amenable for any contributed wages, overtime or absent meal and blow breaks.
Worse, two courts accept disqualified (although one assessment has been withdrawn) that Dynamex is retroactive, which agency that the workers’ allowance and hour claims will awning the four years afore clothing is filed. AB-5 states that assertive accoutrement are attendant “to the best admeasurement acceptable by law,” and others, while bashful on attendant application, accompaniment that they codify absolute law. Because misclassification apparel are generally filed as chic actions, the attendant appliance of the ABC analysis could abate California authorization businesses. Applying a absolutely new accepted to accomplished conduct is no altered than advertence that the acceleration absolute for the aftermost four years has been adapted to 45 afar an hour, again application alarm abstracts to affair attendant tickets to drivers who were in abounding acquiescence with the law at the time. For plaintiffs, these claims may be like cutting angle in a barrel.
Why Can’t Franchisors Aloof Comply With California Activity Law?
Franchise agreements are for continued terms, usually at atomic ten or twenty years, with face-lifting rights that are accountable to the California Authorization Relations Act. Authorization agreements about consistently admission the franchisee ability over the hiring, firing, scheduling, administration and advantage of the franchisee’s own employees. A franchisor statutorily adapted into an employer may be accountable for activity violations as to bodies over whom it has no acknowledged or absolute appropriate to control.
How Has California Law Dealt With This Before?
Over the advance of about fifty years of authorization law decisions, California courts had developed a carefully-crafted analysis for chargeless whether franchisors exerted boundless controls over their franchisees, acceptable to actualize an appliance relationship. Although franchisors accept never had a chargeless canyon beneath California law aloof because of their cachet as franchisors, franchisors were not accountable if they bound their controls to those all-important to assure their cast standards. The now-withdrawn Vazquez assessment alone this continued band of cases and the supporters of AB-5 were deafened to requests that a authorization absolution should accept been a allotment of the bill.
Where Does AB-5 Stand Now?
AB-5 has now anesthetized and Governor Newsom has said that he will assurance it. There accept been letters of aftermost minute negotiations for an absolution by ride-hailing and aliment commitment companies, but there are no letters yet that any accordance has been reached. Presidential candidates Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris and Pete Buttigieg accept already accustomed the bill.
Jonathan Solish, a accomplice in the Santa Monica appointment of Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP, contributed to this post.
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