A Canyon Country Postmates driver is joining an Assembly Bill 5 (AB 5) lawsuit against the state of California over the law, which regulates contracted workers.

Miguel Perez is a plaintiff in a lawsuit, along with the companies Postmates, Uber and a rideshare driver from the Antelope Valley, alleging AB 5 — which is set to go into effect Jan. 1 — is unconstitutional, according to court documents.

The lawsuit, against the state of California and Attorney General Xavier Becerra, claims AB 5 violates several constitutional rights and impacts an individual’s ability to earn income from the platforms.

“I chose to deliver on Postmates only when I wanted to so that I could see my kids more. I used other on-demand apps when I wanted to, to make the best use of my time and skills and make more money running my own delivery business. The politicians responsible for AB 5 have targeted gig companies and workers like me and are trying to eliminate my freedom to be an independent contractor and continue the way I am,” Perez said.

Under AB 5, workers are considered employees of a business unless they follow the criteria decided in a California Supreme Court ruling last year:

(A) The person is free from the control and direction of the hiring entity in connection with the performance of the work, both under the contract for the performance of the work and in fact.

(B) The person performs work that is outside the usual course of the hiring entity’s business.

(C) The person is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation or business of the same nature as that involved in the work performed.

The author of AB 5, Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, says the law restores employment status for millions of workers who have been misclassified as contractors.

“We are disrupting the status quo and taking a bold step forward to rebuild our middle class and reshape the future of workers as we know it. As one of the strongest economies in the world, California is now setting the global standard for worker protections for other states and countries to follow,” Gonzalez said in a statement upon the passing of the bill.

However, the lawsuit claims that AB 5 is an “irrational and unconstitutional statute designed to target and stifle workers and companies in the on-demand economy.”

“This targeting of app-based workers and platforms and treating them disparately from traditional workers violates the Equal Protection Clauses of the United States and California Constitutions,” the complaint states. “There is simply no rational basis for subjecting exempt occupations and non-exempt occupations to different rules and burdens.”

In response to the lawsuit, Gonzalez said that this shows Uber “will do anything to try to exempt themselves from state regulations that make us all safer and their driver employees self-sufficient.”

“First, Uber sought not only an exemption from AB 5 but from all California labor laws,” Gonzalez said. “Then, they said they wouldn’t abide by AB 5 anyway. Then, they said AB 5 didn’t apply to them because they weren’t a transportation company. Then, they said they would create a ballot initiative to exempt themselves from AB 5. And now Uber is in court bizarrely trying to say AB 5 is unconstitutional.”

The lawsuit argues AB 5 violates the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment and Ninth Amendment, as well as the Contracts Clause of Article I of the United States Constitution.

The suit further claims the law goes against the Equal Protection Clause, Inalienable Rights Clause, Due Process Clause, Ninth Amendment and Contracts Clause of the California Constitution.

Postmates and Uber are seeking “declaratory and injunctive relief from the law,” according to court documents.

When contacted for a statement, officials with Postmates wrote that, “California has failed to heed calls nor answer the big questions about the future of work and workers in a changing economy. Instead, lawmakers have decided that our existing safety net is sufficient and avoided the difficult questions.”

This lawsuit joins one filed earlier this month representing freelance writers and photographers alleging the law “restricts free speech.”

Officials from the California Attorney General’s Office are reviewing the complaint and were unable to comment further on the lawsuit against AB 5.

The law is set to take effect on Jan. 1.

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