The Label on Your Agreement Isn’t the Legal Test
You signed an agreement calling you an independent contractor, so you assume that settles your employment status. It does not.
This is one of the most litigated questions in California employment law, and it comes up often enough that the state built a specific test for it. Following Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court, California codified the ABC test for most industries at Lab. Code §§ 2775 through 2787. Under that test, a worker is presumed to be an employee unless the hiring company can prove all three of the following: the worker is free from the company’s control and direction, the work performed falls outside the company’s usual course of business, and the worker is customarily engaged in an independently established trade of the same nature.
The company has to prove all three. Missing even one means the presumption of employee status stands, regardless of what the agreement you signed calls you.
Not every industry falls under the ABC test. A list of statutory exceptions in Lab. Code §§ 2776 through 2784 routes certain occupations back to the older, more flexible multi-factor test from S.G. Borello & Sons, Inc. v. Department of Industrial Relations instead. Which test applies to your situation changes the analysis, and depends on facts about your specific role that are not visible from the agreement itself.
If the work you actually do looks like employee work no matter what the agreement calls you, the label on the page is not the end of the analysis.
Contact Michael Trust Law, APC for a no-charge initial consultation. The facts determine whether you have a claim – and how much of a conversation that takes.
This post shares general information based on common patterns I see in California workplaces. It is not legal advice, does not create an attorney-client relationship, and outcomes depend on specific facts – no lawyer can guarantee a result. Past results do not guarantee or predict future outcomes. AI may have been used to create this post. All content reviewed by a CA attorney before publication.