1099 contractor or W-2 employee?
California’s ABC test (Lab Code § 2775) is the default for most workers, with statutory carve-outs that route specific occupations back to the older Borello multi-factor balancing test. This wizard walks through both.
Step 1 — Occupation
What kind of work does the worker do?
Several occupations are statutorily exempted from California’s ABC test under AB 5 / AB 2257. If yours is on the list, the analysis changes.
General reference, not legal advice. Misclassification carries significant exposure under California law — wage-and-hour back-pay, PAGA penalties, EDD assessments, and tax obligations. For matters where the answer drives a real decision, confirm with Think Legal, P.C. or your own counsel.
We help businesses get this right before EDD does.
Classification audits, contractor agreement review, and remediation when something is wrong. The cost of getting it right now is dramatically less than the cost of getting caught later.