Supporters of California's AB5 independent contractor law have achieved another success as the U.S. Supreme Court has refused to review the Postmates/Uber case. California's AB5 law, which governs independent contractor classification, has earned another win within the federal court system. The U.S. Supreme Court, without issuing any comments – a standard procedure – denied review on Tuesday in the case identified as Olson, named after lead plaintiff Lydia Olson, and also known as Uber/Postmates, to differentiate it from other legal challenges against AB5 involving Uber. Postmates is currently a subsidiary of Uber, but it was an independent company when the lawsuit was initially filed in late 2019. This marks the second occasion the Supreme Court has had the opportunity to rule on AB5 and has chosen not to. In June 2022, the court denied a certiorari petition from the California Trucking Association regarding lower court rulings in their legal battle against AB5. This past June, an 11-judge en banc panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a previous lower court decision, concluding that AB5 did not unfairly target gig drivers, such as those working for Uber, in its legislative framework. The en banc panel's reasoning included addressing Uber's argument in the Olson case that exemptions within AB5 granted to app-based services like Wag! – which connects pet care providers with owners similarly to how Uber connects drivers with riders – violated Uber's right to equal protection under the U.S. Constitution. The judges responded by stating that there were...