{"id":9113,"date":"2026-08-31T09:00:26","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T09:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mesrianilaw.com\/?p=9113"},"modified":"2026-08-24T20:40:05","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T20:40:05","slug":"misclassified-independent-contractor-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mesrianilaw.com\/blog\/misclassified-independent-contractor-california\/","title":{"rendered":"Misclassified as an Independent Contractor in California? Here’s How to Tell"},"content":{"rendered":"

Getting a 1099 instead of a W-2 doesn’t automatically mean you’re an independent contractor under California law. Plenty of workers who are told they’re contractors, freelancers, or gig workers are actually employees in the eyes of the state, and that distinction affects everything from overtime pay to unemployment benefits to who covers your work-related expenses.<\/p>\n

Here’s how California determines the difference, and what to do if you think you’ve been misclassified.<\/p>\n

California’s Default: You’re an Employee Unless Proven Otherwise<\/h2>\n

Most states use a flexible, multi-factor test to sort out worker classification. California doesn’t. Under Labor Code Section 2775<\/a>, every worker is presumed to be an employee. If a business wants to treat someone as an independent contractor instead, the burden is entirely on the business to prove it, not on the worker to disprove it.<\/p>\n

This standard, known as the \u00abABC test,\u00bb came out of the California Supreme Court’s 2018 decision in Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court<\/em> and was later written into law through Assembly Bill 5 (AB 5) and its follow-up, AB 2257.<\/p>\n

The ABC Test: All Three Parts Must Be True<\/h2>\n

To legally classify you as an independent contractor, a hiring business must prove all three of the following. If even one fails, you’re an employee under California law, regardless of what your contract says or what your paystub calls you.<\/p>\n

A. Freedom from control.<\/strong> You must be genuinely free from the company’s control and direction over how the work gets done, both in your written agreement and in actual day-to-day practice. If the company sets your schedule, dictates your methods, requires specific tools or procedures, or supervises your work closely, this prong fails.<\/p>\n

B. Work outside the company’s usual business.<\/strong> The work you perform has to fall outside the hiring company’s core business. A plumbing company can hire an independent contractor to design its logo, because graphic design has nothing to do with plumbing. That same company generally cannot call its plumbers independent contractors, because plumbing is the business itself. This is the prong that trips up the most employers, especially in industries like delivery, rideshare, home care, and skilled trades.<\/p>\n

C. An independently established trade.<\/strong> You must be customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, or business of the same nature as the work you’re doing for the company, not just doing the same type of work exclusively for one company that controls your livelihood.<\/p>\n

Signs You May Be Misclassified<\/h2>\n

Some practical red flags that often point to misclassification:<\/p>\n