AB 2185: Employment agencies: domestic workers.

Existing law, the Employment Agency, Employment Counseling, and Job Listing Services Act, regulates employment agencies and job listing services. The act imposes certain obligations on an employment agency with regard to domestic workers referred by the agency. The act provides that an employment agency, as defined, is not the employer of a domestic worker for whom it procures, offers, refers, provides, or attempts to provide, work, if prescribed factors characterize the nature of the relationship between the employment agency and the domestic worker (nonemployment factors). Nonemployment factors include the factor that payments for domestic services are made directly to either the domestic worker or to the employment agency and payments made directly to the employment agency are deposited into a trust account until payment can be made to the domestic worker (direct payment factor).

This bill, notwithstanding any other provision of law, including specified existing law relating to worker status as either employees or independent contractors, would require that the nonemployment factors set forth in the act be used to determine employee status of domestic workers, as defined, who are referred through an employment agency. The bill, with regard to the direct payment factor, would exclude the alternative of payments to the employment agency in the case of a domestic worker who provides care to an individual over 21 years of age and, instead, require that payments for domestic services in such a case be made only directly to the domestic worker.