Legal Question in Workers Comp in California
My partner and I operate a company, similar to a temp agency, but we specialize in the hotel industry. We have no employees. We have independent contractors who we deploy to a hotel for a period of time (normally 2 - 4 weeks) depending on the hotel's need. Do we have to provide workers comp insurance for our independent contractors? Does the hotel we send them to have to provide coverage? Does the individual contractor provide their own coverage?
Tony
1 Answer from Attorneys
Independent contractors create many problems, especially with businesses like your. At issue is whether or not you control the independent contractors to such a degree that they are really employees. Generally if your control the hours these "contractors work", assign and oversee the work, establish a pay scale, you will probably lose on a WC challenge to your independent contractor status. In such a case, if you do not have insurance you will be personally liable. As for the Hotels, their insurance contracts generally provide exemptions for anyone who works 50 hours or less in any given quarter. However, each contract is unique. Temp agencies carrier workers comp insurance and my suggestion is that you consider obtaining coverage to protect your personal property.