Just hours before Uber and Lyft planned to suspend operations in California in a bid to evade an injunction ordering the companies to classify their drivers as employees, a California appeals court halted the order, averting the shutdown.

On August 10, a California court issued an injunction ordering Uber and Lyft to reclassify their drivers as employees. The order followed an extended legal battle between the ride-sharing companies and the state of California over AB 5 (Assembly Bill 5), a state law that requires gig economy companies like Uber and Lyft to grant their drivers employee status.

In May, California attorney general Xavier Becerra sued Uber and Lyft, arguing that the companies were violating the law by misclassifying their drivers as independent contractors (Uber Eats, the company’s food business, is not covered by the injunction, and can continue operating). With employee status would come labor law protections, with drivers entitled to health insurance, overtime pay, sick pay, and other benefits.