Ninth Circuit Panel Backs Off on Earlier Ruling That California’s Controversial “ABC” Test for Determining Independent Contractor Status Applies Retroactively

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in a somewhat unexpected development, has withdrawn its previous ruling in which the panel held that the California Supreme Court’s liberal “ABC” test for determining whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor under the state’s wage and hour laws applies retroactively.

In its initial ruling issued last year in Vazquez v. Jan-Pro Franchising International, Inc., the Ninth Circuit panel concluded that the California Supreme Court’s “ABC” test articulated in the 2018 case of Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court applied retroactively. Jan-Pro asked the panel to reconsider its ruling, and the panel has now reversed course, concluding the issue of whether Dynamex applies retroactively should be decided by the state’s High Court instead.

From a practical perspective, the ruling means that any challenges to California state law wage and hour determinations made prior to the Dynamex ruling claiming that the ABC test applies are on hold for now.

Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC) can read more here.