Gig companies like Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, and Instacart backed Prop 22 four years ago to win themselves an exemption from a new state law known as Assembly Bill 5.

AB 5 would have upended their business models by requiring them to consider their drivers and delivery workers as employees.

In June, Uber lost a legal battle to overturn AB 5, meaning only Prop 22 stood in the way of forcing ride-hailing and delivery app companies to comply with it.

Gig workers have long turned to the state labor commissioner with wage complaints.

Since Prop 22 passed, those complaints include ones related to that law, but the state Supreme Court's recent ruling that upholds Prop 22 effectively ensures that Uber and other ride-hailing and delivery platforms can continue to treat their workers as independent contractors.

That means the labor commissioner can no longer handle wage claims from gig workers who are not considered employees.

Gig companies, some of which have tacked on new customer fees to help provide workers with Prop 22 benefits, say the law is working as intended, though they share few details.

Workers say in the claims, and in interviews with CalMatters, that those benefits haven't been as helpful as advertised, and aren't always delivered in a timely manner, or in some cases, allegedly not at all.

Now, in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling, no state agency is directly in charge of enforcing Prop 22 unless local prosecutors or the state attorney general decide to file lawsuits.

Gig workers with individual claims have even less recourse if they have a dispute with gig companies.

With CalMatters, I'm Levi Sumagaysay.