January 25, 2021

Vazquez v. Jan-Pro Franchising International, Inc. (Jan. 14, 2021, S258191) ___ Cal.5th ___ 

In Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court, the California Supreme Court held that whether an individual is an independent contractor for wage order obligations may be determined by an “ABC” test, under which a court “presumptively considers all workers to be employees, and permits workers to be classified as independent contractors only if the hiring business demonstrates that the worker in question satisfies each of three conditions: (a) that the worker is free from the control and direction of the hirer in connection with the performance of the work, both under the contract for the performance of the work and in fact; and (b) that the worker performs work that is outside the usual course of the hiring entity’s business; and (c) that the worker is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, or business of the same nature as that involved in the work performed.”

In response to a request from the Ninth Circuit, the Supreme Court has now held that Dynamex applies retroactively to all cases or conduct predating the Dynamex decision.