California Codes

Cal. Labor Code § 3351 (2026)

✓ current as of May 2026

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“Employee” means every person in the service of an employer under any appointment or contract of hire or apprenticeship, express or implied, oral or written, whether lawfully or unlawfully employed, and includes:

(a)Persons who are not citizens or nationals of the United States and minors.

(b)All elected and appointed paid public officers.

(c)All officers and members of boards of directors of quasi-public or private corporations while rendering actual service for the corporations for pay. An officer or member of a board of directors may elect to be excluded from coverage in accordance with paragraph (16), (18), or (19) of subdivision (a) of Section 3352.

(d)Except as provided in paragraph (8) of subdivision (a) of Section 3352, any person employed by the owner or occupant of a residential dwelling whose duties are incidental to the ownership, maintenance, or use of the dwelling, including the care and supervision of children, or whose duties are personal and not in the course of the trade, business, profession, or occupation of the owner or occupant.

(e)All persons incarcerated in a state penal or correctional institution while engaged in assigned work or employment as defined in paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 10021 of Title 8 of the California Code of Regulations, or engaged in work performed under contract.

(f)All working members of a partnership or limited liability company receiving wages irrespective of profits from the partnership or limited liability company. A general partner of a partnership or a managing member of a limited liability company may elect to be excluded from coverage in accordance with paragraph (17) of subdivision (a) of Section 3352.

(g)A person who holds the power to revoke a trust, with respect to shares of a private corporation held in trust or general partnership or limited liability company interests held in trust. To the extent that this person is deemed to be an employee described in subdivision (c) or (f), as applicable, the person may also elect to be excluded from coverage as described in subdivision (c) or (f), as applicable, if that person otherwise meets the criteria for exclusion, as described in Section 3352.

(h)A person committed to a state hospital facility under the State Department of State Hospitals, as defined in Section 4100 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, while engaged in and assigned work in a vocation rehabilitation program, including a sheltered workshop.

(i)Beginning on July 1, 2020, any individual who is an employee pursuant to Section 2775. This subdivision shall not apply retroactively.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 56 cases (4 in the last 5 years), 1948–2025 · leading case: State Farm Fire & Cas. Co. v. Workers' Comp. Appeals Bd., 947 P.2d 795 (Cal. 1997).

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Brown v. City of Inglewood (Cal. 2025).

Parks v. City of Los Angeles CA2/2 (Cal. Ct. App. 2025).

Int'l Franchise Ass'n v. State of California (S.D. Cal. 2022).

Mateel Env't Just. Found. v. Ukiah Rifle & Pistol Club CA1/4 (Cal. Ct. App. 2021). · cites it 5×

Skidgel v. Cal. Unemployment Ins. Appeals Bd., 234 Cal. Rptr. 3d 528 (Cal. Ct. App. 5th 2018). · cites it 5× “Labor Code section 3351 defines "employee" to include "every person in the service of an employer under any appointment or contract of hire or *592 apprenticeship, express or implied, oral or written, whether lawfully or unlawfully employed.”

Tripplett v. Workers' Comp. Appeals Bd., 235 Cal. Rptr. 3d 879 (Cal. Ct. App. 5th 2018). “On the contrary, Labor Code section 3351 provides broadly that for the purpose of the Workmen's Compensation Act ' "Employee" means every person in the service of an employer under any appointment or contract of hire or apprenticeship, express or implied, oral or written.”

Skidgel v. Cal. Unemployment Ins. Appeals Bd. (Cal. Ct. App. 2018). · cites it 5×

Skidgel v. Cal. Unemployment Ins. App. Bd. (Cal. Ct. App. 2018). · cites it 5×

Tripplett v. Workers' Comp. Appeals Bd. (Cal. Ct. App. 2018).

State Comp. Ins. Fund v. Urgent Nursing Resources CA2/1 (Cal. Ct. App. 2016).

State Comp. Ins. Fund v. Urgent Nursing Resources CA2/1 (Cal. Ct. App. 2015).

Gregory v. Cott, 331 P.3d 179 (Cal. 2014). · cites it 2× “First of all, the agency here apparently has acknowledged Gregory is an employee rather than an independent contractor.”

Show all 56 citing cases →

— Cal. Labor Code § 3351(e) — 1 case

Burleson v. California, 83 F.3d 311 (9th Cir. 1996).

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