What Is California Labor Code §2810.3: Client Employer Liability?

(b) A client employer shall share with a labor contractor all civil legal responsibility and civil liability for all workers supplied by that labor contractor for both of the following: (1) The payment of wages. (2) Failure to secure valid workers' compensation coverage as required by Section 3700.

What Is California Labor Code §2810.3?

Labor Code 2810.3 holds a business jointly responsible with the staffing or labor-contracting company it uses, for unpaid wages and for a missing workers' comp policy.

Many California businesses get workers through a staffing agency or a labor contractor instead of hiring them directly. Labor Code 2810.3 calls the business that uses those workers the client employer. It calls the company that supplies them the labor contractor. The statute does not ask who made the mistake. If the labor contractor skips wages or skips workers' comp coverage, the client employer answers for that failure too.

The rule is not limited to a handful of industries. It reaches any client employer that gets workers from a labor contractor to do its own usual work, subject to the size limits explained below.

Who counts as a "client employer" under Labor Code 2810.3, and who is exempt?

A client employer is a business that gets workers from a labor contractor to do its own regular work, unless the business is too small or is a government body.

Labor Code 2810.3 defines a client employer as a business entity that obtains or is provided workers to perform labor within its own usual course of business from a labor contractor. A labor contractor is the individual or entity that supplies those workers. The statute does not list specific industries. Any business that fits this pattern can be a client employer, as long as it is above the size limits below.

Three groups fall outside the definition. A business with a workforce of fewer than 25 workers, counting direct hires and everyone supplied by any labor contractor, is excluded. A business that gets 5 or fewer workers from a labor contractor or labor contractors at any one time is also excluded. The State of California and its political subdivisions, including cities, counties, and special districts, are excluded as well.

What does Labor Code 2810.3 actually make the client employer responsible for?

The client employer shares full civil responsibility with the labor contractor for unpaid wages and for a missing workers' comp policy.

Subdivision (b) is the center of the statute. A client employer shares all civil legal responsibility and civil liability with its labor contractor for two things: the payment of wages, and the labor contractor's failure to secure valid workers' compensation coverage under Labor Code 3700. Our Labor Code 3700 guide covers that basic insurance duty.

This sharing rule does not decide which insurer pays a specific injury claim day to day. For that question, see our guide on who pays workers' comp for temp and staffing agency workers. Labor Code 2810.3 instead decides who answers, in civil court, when wages or coverage were never provided in the first place.

Subdivision (c) adds a separate duty. A client employer cannot shift its workplace safety obligations under Division 5, the Cal/OSHA statutes starting at Section 6300, onto the labor contractor. Subdivision (f) makes clear that this shared liability stands on top of any other legal theory a worker could already raise, rather than replacing it.

What has to happen before someone can sue over a Labor Code 2810.3 violation?

A worker or a worker's representative must notify the client employer at least 30 days before filing a civil action over unpaid wages or missing coverage.

Subdivision (d) requires that notice. It must describe the violation under subdivision (b) and reach the client employer at least 30 days before a civil action is filed. Subdivision (e) then bars both the client employer and the labor contractor from taking any adverse action against a worker for giving that notice or for filing a claim.

Subdivision (m) states that a waiver of Labor Code 2810.3 is void and against public policy. A private contract between the client employer and the labor contractor cannot take away a worker's rights under the statute, even though subdivisions (g) and (h) let the two businesses pursue their own contractual remedies against each other separately.

How does Labor Code 2810.3 connect to other sections?

It works alongside the insurance duty in Labor Code 3700, the civil remedy in Labor Code 3706, and the separate due-diligence rule in Labor Code 2810.

Labor Code 3706 lets an injured worker sue an employer that never secured coverage, as if the no-fault workers' comp system did not apply. Labor Code 2810.3(b)(2) extends that same exposure to the client employer when its labor contractor is the one that skipped coverage. Labor Code 2810 is an older, narrower rule that only reaches seven specific industries and only applies when the hiring business knew or should have known a contract lacked funding. Labor Code 2810.3 reaches further and does not require that knowledge.

If a staffing or labor-contracting arrangement is part of a California workers' comp claim, the paperwork can point to more than one responsible business. Eman Yazdchi reviews the staffing agreement, the coverage question, and the notice requirements before weighing how a Labor Code 2810.3 issue affects a claim.

Yazdchi Law P.C. is based in Palmdale and represents injured workers across California. The firm reviews each matter individually and does not take every case.

Call (661) 273-1780 or use the contact form for a free consultation.