Day laborers included in California workers comp bill

Day laborers in California hired on a one-time basis would be covered by the state’s workers compensation laws under amendments to a year-old bill intended to extend coverage to more workers.

A.B. 206, introduced by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, D-Chula Vista, in January 2017, was amended Thursday to include workers comp coverage mandates for a “person, including a day laborer, 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,” according to the latest draft of the bill.

The draft defines a day laborer as “a person who is directly hired by the home owner or occupant on a one-time basis, to perform general maintenance, repairs, upgrades, gardening, or landscaping, and who does not have a valid business license or contractor’s license, or is not required to have those licenses for the work performed.”

This requirement would apply without regard to immigration status, according to the draft.