California Judge Ethan Schulman of the San Francisco Superior Court issued a preliminary injunction on Monday against Uber and Lyft, blocking the companies from classifying their drivers as independent contractors.
California passed a new law, Assembly Bill 5, that required companies to classify workers as employees if they controlled how workers did their jobs. The law took effect on January 1. The Public Utilities Commission of the State of California said on June 11 that drivers who work for services such as Uber and Lyft are considered employees, not independent contractors, under the new law.