If you have even one employee, you need workers’ compensation today, whatever your classification. If you work alone, five classifications already require it anyway — C-8 concrete, C-20 HVAC, C-22 asbestos abatement, C-39 roofing and C-61/D-49 tree service — and CSLB will not accept an exemption on a license qualified by a Responsible Managing Employee. Everyone else can still file an exemption, and that stops on January 1, 2028, when SB 216 as amended by SB 1455 extends the requirement to all licensed contractors and applicants, with limited exceptions. A lapse suspends your license, and work performed while suspended is unlicensed activity.
What the rule requires today
Two separate requirements sit on top of each other, which is why this confuses people.
The first is ordinary California employment law: an employer has to carry workers’ compensation. One part-time helper is enough. Whether you call that person an employee or an independent contractor is not yours to decide by preference — California law presumes that people who work for you are employees, and if that worker is hurt the burden lands on you.
The second is a licensing requirement. CSLB requires every licensee to keep either a workers’ compensation certificate or an exemption on file, and it does not accept an exemption if you employ anyone subject to California workers’ compensation law, if your license is qualified by a Responsible Managing Employee, or if you hold one of five classifications: C-8 concrete, C-20 warm-air heating, ventilating and air-conditioning, C-22 asbestos abatement, C-39 roofing, and C-61/D-49 tree service. Those five need coverage with nobody at all on payroll.
Which is why roofers, in practice, have been living under the 2028 rule for years already.
What changes on January 1, 2028
SB 216, signed in 2022, requires all licensed contractors and license applicants, regardless of classification, to obtain and maintain workers’ compensation insurance, with limited exceptions. It was originally set to take effect on January 1, 2026.
SB 1455, signed in 2024, moved that date to January 1, 2028, and directed CSLB to strengthen how it verifies that a licensee claiming an exemption really has no employees. That second part is the quieter half of the change and the one worth noticing: the exemption is not only going away, it is being looked at harder in the meantime.
For a contractor who genuinely works alone today on an exemption, this means a policy becomes part of keeping the license active — not because anything about the work changed, but because the exemption that used to be available stops being available. The full guide to the rule and its history is here, and the question of working alone is answered separately here.
Who counts as an employee
This is where an owner-only operation quietly becomes an employer without anybody deciding to. The usual routes:
- Uninsured subcontractorsIf a sub cannot produce a certificate of their own, what they were paid is commonly picked up as your payroll at audit, and their injured worker becomes your claim. This is the single most common way a “no employees” contractor gets a premium bill.
- Unlicensed subcontractorsWorse, not better. An unlicensed person working for you is very likely to be treated as your employee outright.
- Day labor and cash helpA helper for three days on one job is an employee for those three days.
- Family membersSometimes excluded, often not, and it depends on the entity and the paperwork rather than the relationship.
- Officers, members and managing membersMay be employees unless they are properly excluded with the carrier. The exclusion rules are not the same thing as the CSLB exemption, and holding a corporation or an LLC does not by itself get you out of either.
- An RME on the licenseA Responsible Managing Employee is, by name, an employee. CSLB will not take an exemption on that license.
Collecting certificates from every sub, every year, is dull and it is the highest-value administrative habit in the trade. How a contractor program fits together.
What CSLB will expect to see
- A current certificate of workers’ compensation insurance, filed with CSLB by your insurer, with coverage continuous and no gap between policies.
- Or an exemption, until it stops being available to you — and with SB 1455 directing CSLB to verify exemption claims more rigorously, an exemption you are not entitled to is a worse bet than it used to be.
- Payroll records that match what you told the carrier, including owners who work in the field. Premium is based on payroll by classification code and it is checked at audit.
- Subcontractor certificates for everyone you paid, covering the dates they worked for you.
- Classification codes that match the work you actually do, not the ones that rate best.
- Continuity through renewal. A certificate that arrives a week after the old policy expired is a gap, and a gap is a suspension.
What a lapse actually costs
CSLB requires coverage to be continuous. If your workers’ comp lapses, the license is suspended, and work performed while suspended is treated as unlicensed activity. The suspension lifts once CSLB receives and processes acceptable proof of coverage — which takes as long as it takes.
The consequences are not limited to a fine. Unlicensed activity affects your right to be paid for the work, your contracts, and the general contractors and owners who relied on your license. A suspension discovered by a GC in the middle of a job is a commercial problem long before it is a regulatory one.
So paying on time, keeping the policy in force through the audit, and renewing before the expiration date protect the license at least as much as they protect against a claim. This is also the reason the checker cares about your renewal date at all.
What to do between now and then
- Confirm your classifications on your own license record, and whether any of them already require coverage.
- Check what is on file with CSLB right now — a certificate, or an exemption — and whether the exemption is one you are still entitled to.
- Note your license renewal date, and work out which renewal is the first one on or after January 1, 2028.
- Gather payroll figures, including owners who work in the field, and what you pay subcontractors, because that is what a quote is built from.
- Start collecting subcontractor certificates properly, this year, before an audit does it for you.
- Get quoted several months before that renewal, not in the week of it. Classification, payroll and claims history all take time to assemble, and a rushed placement is an expensive one.
- Bundle the conversation with general liability and your license bond, so the certificates match what general contractors are asking for.
Common questions
Do I need workers’ comp in California if I have no employees?
Today, only if you hold C-8, C-20, C-22, C-39 or C-61/D-49, or your license is qualified by a Responsible Managing Employee, or you cannot otherwise qualify for a CSLB exemption. Beginning January 1, 2028 the requirement extends to all licensed contractors and applicants, with limited exceptions.
Was the all-contractor requirement supposed to start in 2026?
Yes. SB 216, signed in 2022, set January 1, 2026. SB 1455, signed in 2024, moved it to January 1, 2028 and directed CSLB to verify exemption claims more rigorously in the meantime.
Does it apply to roofers already?
Yes. CSLB requires C-39 roofing contractors to carry workers’ compensation whether or not they have employees, along with C-8 concrete, C-20 HVAC, C-22 asbestos abatement and C-61/D-49 tree service.
I have an LLC and it is just me. Am I exempt?
Not automatically, and this is the flag the checker raises. Members and managing members of an LLC, like officers of a corporation, may be employees for workers’ compensation purposes unless they are properly excluded with the carrier. The entity type does not answer the question on its own — the paperwork does.
What happens to my license if the policy is cancelled?
CSLB suspends the license when workers’ comp coverage lapses, and working while suspended is unlicensed activity. The suspension ends once CSLB receives and processes acceptable proof of coverage.
If my subs carry their own insurance, do I still need a policy?
You still need one if you have any employees of your own, and you will need one from January 1, 2028 regardless. Meanwhile, collect a certificate from every sub for the dates they worked: uninsured subs are commonly counted as your payroll at audit, which can make you an employer today.
How is contractor workers’ comp priced?
On payroll by classification code, adjusted for claims history and other underwriting factors, and actual payroll is verified at audit. That is why accurate classifications and honest payroll figures matter more than shopping the first number.
Sources
- CSLB: Workers’ Compensation Requirements
- SB 216 (2022) bill text, California Legislative Information
- Business Insurance: California governor signs bill to delay comp mandate for contractors
- Insurance Journal: WCIRB summarizes 2024 California workers’ comp legislation
General information about California contractor licensing and workers’ compensation as of September 2026, not legal advice. Rules and CSLB procedures change; confirm current requirements with CSLB before relying on them. This page and the checker on it are general information from Saman Alishahi, an independent California insurance broker, License #4348151 — not a policy, not a quote, not an offer of coverage. Coverage depends on underwriting and on the terms, conditions and exclusions of the policy actually issued.