Is this legal advice?
No. ContractorCheck produces a self-assessment based on your answers about worker relationships. California ABC-test interpretation is legally nuanced — particularly Prong B ("outside the usual course of business"), which has been litigated repeatedly in Dynamex (2018) and Vazquez v. Jan-Pro (2021). Take the report to a licensed California employment attorney for any classification changes.
What's Prong B and why is it the hardest?
Prong B asks whether the worker's services are "outside the usual course of the hiring entity's business." Courts ask: could the company operate without this work being done? Is the worker's role similar to W-2 employees the company has? The Dynamex court framed it as a "core function" test. Marketing agencies hiring writers, SaaS companies hiring engineers, restaurants hiring cooks — all near-certain Prong B failures.
What about §2778 exemptions?
California Labor Code §2778 carves out 100+ occupations from the ABC test entirely. The big ones: real estate agents, insurance agents, doctors, lawyers, accountants, architects, engineers, direct sellers, commercial fishermen, marketing professionals (with multi-client + business-license criteria), graphic designers and grant writers (under the B2B §2778(b) provisions). Our tool checks §2778 first — exempt workers skip the ABC test entirely.
What about construction subcontractors?
Construction has its own path: §2781's 12-condition Borello test instead of the ABC test. We support construction subcontractors in v1.1 (June 2026) — for now, if your business is NAICS 23 (construction), email us before pre-ordering and we'll make sure the v1.1 launch hits before any audit deadline you're tracking.
What triggers an EDD audit?
Top 5: a worker filing a UI claim while still classified as 1099, a worker filing a wage claim with the Labor Commissioner, a 1099-NEC mismatch with state records, a long-tenure 1099 (3+ years with the same client), and high % of business revenue paid to a single 1099. Our tool scores your 1099 roster against all 5 and surfaces the highest-risk workers first.
What if EDD has already contacted us?
Stop using software and call a California employment attorney immediately. ContractorCheck is for pre-emptive self-assessment. Once you've received an EDD audit notice or DLSE wage-claim summons, you need a licensed advocate, not a self-assessment tool.
What about other ABC-test states?
Massachusetts (G.L. c. 149, §148B) and New Jersey (Hargrove v. Sleepy's, 2015) have similar ABC tests but different statutory language. v2 will add MA + NJ. For now, if your contractors are in MA / NJ, our v1 logic gets you 80% of the way there but the citations and remediation paths won't match — wait for v2 or hand the framework to your attorney for the state-specific overlay.
What's the difference between this and our employment attorney?
An employment attorney can opine on classification, defend you in an EDD audit, and structure W-2 conversions. We can't. What we can do: a structured walkthrough across your full contractor roster in 15 minutes, surface the workers most likely to fail the ABC test, and tell you which remediation actions reduce risk most. The output goes to the attorney as the input.
Do you store the contractor data?
Per-worker answers are stored in Postgres so you can re-assess as remediation lands. We don't share data with anyone. After 90 days of subscription cancellation, all data auto-deletes. SOC 2 is on the roadmap (v2) — until then, the security posture is "encrypted at rest, signed-URL access, no third-party trackers, no data sales."
What about AB-5 / Prop 22?
AB-5 is the 2019 statute that codified the Dynamex ABC test into California Labor Code §2775. Prop 22 (2020) carved out app-based gig drivers (Uber, Lyft, DoorDash) from the ABC test entirely. The carve-outs in §2778 + §2781 + Prop 22 stack — our tool checks all three layers. If your business is rideshare/delivery and you think Prop 22 applies, email us before pre-ordering and we'll confirm the carve-out fits.