Independent Contractor Misclassification: AB 5 and What It Means for You

California’s AB 5 created one of the strictest worker classification tests in the country. If you’ve been classified as an independent contractor but actually work like an employee, you may be owed years of unpaid wages, benefits, and expense reimbursements.

The ABC Test

Under AB 5, a worker is presumed to be an employee unless the hiring entity can prove all three prongs: (A) the worker is free from the hiring entity’s control and direction, (B) the worker performs work outside the usual course of the hiring entity’s business, and (C) the worker is customarily engaged in an independently established trade.

Prong B is where most misclassification claims win. A delivery driver classified as a contractor by a delivery company fails Prong B because delivery is the company’s core business. An employer whose contractors perform the same work as employees — under the same supervision, using company equipment, during company-set hours — has almost certainly misclassified them under California law.

The California Wage Theft Recovery System gives workers the exact tools and templates to document violations, calculate what they’re owed, and file the right claims — without paying an attorney to get started. Request your free evaluation here.