Kudos to Gary Lafayette and Barbara Lyons of Lafayette & Kumagai LLP on their appellate victory. The decision from the California Court of Appeal upheld a Contra Costa County Superior Court decision to grant summary judgment in what started as a putative class action alleging joint employment of station managers. There is a clear holding that the “ABC” test, adopted by the California Supreme Court for misclassification cases in Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court (2018) 4 Cal.5th 903, does not apply in joint employer cases. Instead, the framework established in Martinez v. Combs (2010) 49 Cal.4th 35 continues to apply for joint employer cases.
Gary Lafayette states “We are happy that in a very well reasoned opinion the California Court of Appeal has made it emphatically clear that Dynamex and the ABC test does not apply to joint employment cases, leaving the burden of proof to establish an employment relationship solely on the plaintiff.” In addition, Mr. Lafayette notes that this minimizes disruption of existing business relationships.
Congratulations again to Barbara and Gary!
Henderson v. Equilon Enterprises, LLC, No. A151626, 2019 WL 4942458 (Cal. Ct. App. Oct. 8, 2019)