Uber Technologies v. Cal. Dept. of Industrial Relations CA4/3
Opinion
Opinion
Gooding, J.
FACTS
I.
UBER
On August 1, 2022, Cal/OSHA issued a citation to Uber pursuant to Labor Code section 6317, subdivision (a), identifying three alleged regulatory violations during the period April 29, 2022 to August 1, 2022: (1) failure to establish an effective injury and illness prevention program (Cal. Code Regs., tit. 8, § 3203, subd. (a)); (2) failure to maintain records (id.,
1 Two of the individual drivers, Moreno and VanDenBerg, were made parties in both the Uber and Lyft administrative appeals (presumably because they drive for both companies); thus, only a total of five individual Defendant Drivers are respondents here.
3 § 3203, subd. (b)); and (3) failure to establish an effective Covid-19 prevention program for its drivers (id., § 3205, subd. (c)). Uber appealed the citation to the Appeals Board (the Uber Cal/OSHA appeal) and asserted affirmative defenses challenging Cal/OSHA’s jurisdiction on the theory that, under Business and Professions Code section 7451, subdivisions (a)–(d), the drivers working for Uber were independent contractors, not employees.2 On March 17, 2023, four Uber drivers, LaShon Hicks, James Jordan, Robert Moreno, and Karen VanDenBerg…