ABC-test evidence file
abc-test-evidenceDomain: worker-classificationType: policyDescription
California's ABC test (codified in AB5, with 200+ industry-specific exemptions added by AB2257 and Prop 22) is the contemporary standard for worker classification in California and a growing list of other US states. The evidentiary record demonstrates, for each worker classified as a contractor, that all three prongs are met: A) the worker is free from control and direction in the performance of work, B) the work is outside the usual course of the hiring entity's business, and C) the worker is customarily engaged in an independently established trade or occupation of the same nature. Failing any prong defaults the worker to employee classification, with retroactive wage-and-hour, payroll-tax, and §226.8 misclassification exposure (typical penalty range and PAGA representative-action exposure escalate with willfulness findings; consult counsel for case-specific exposure). Prong B is the litigation-active piece; courts have read "usual course of business" broadly, which is why most platform-mediated work has converged on either employee classification or one of the AB2257 or Prop 22 exemptions rather than relying on a contested ABC defense.
Applicability
Applies when: business participants include individual-workers AND markets include california or US.
Required by (5 regulations)
- CA AB5
Cal. Lab. Code §2775 — document control freedom, outside-usual-course-of-business, independent-trade evidence.
Cal. Lab. Code §2775
- CA AB2257
Cal. Lab. Code §§2776-2785 — exemption-applicability evidence.
Cal. Lab. Code §§2776-2785
- MA Question 3 / IC Statute
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 149 §148B — Sebago v Boston Cab Dispatch (2014) interpretive framework.
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 149 §148B
- NJ Misclassification
N.J. Stat. Ann. §43:21-19(i)(6) — Hargrove v Sleepy's (NJ Supreme Court 2015) framework.
N.J. Stat. Ann. §43:21-19(i)(6)
- FLSA Economic Realities
29 CFR §795.110 — six-factor evidence per engagement.
29 CFR §795.110
Fulfilled by (1)
- In-house build · high effort
ClearLaunch does not accept payment from vendors. Methodology.
Evidence formats
- ABC-test evidence file (per-worker or per-cohort)
- control-test memo
- usual-course-of-business memo