Workers' Compensation for a Worker Paid in Cash

Attorney Answer

Being paid in cash does not put you outside the workers' compensation system. The question is whether you were an employee, and California law starts by presuming that you were.

Cash pay, no paperwork and no tax withholding are how an employer sometimes treats a worker, but they do not decide the worker's legal status. Cal. Lab. Code § 2775(b)(1) sets the test: a person providing labor or services for pay is considered an employee rather than an independent contractor unless the hiring entity proves all three of these — that the worker is free from the hiring entity's control and direction, that the work is outside the usual course of the hiring entity's business, and that the worker is customarily engaged in an independently established trade of the same kind. The burden is on the business, and all three have to be met. Someone who was told when to show up and what to do, doing the core work of the business, will usually not fit that description.

If you were an employee, a burn suffered on the job is a workers' compensation claim. Cal. Lab. Code § 3602(a) makes compensation the employee's sole and exclusive remedy against the employer where the conditions of compensation are met, and the system does not ask whether anyone was careless. Where an employer carried no compensation insurance at all — common where workers are paid off the books — there are separate state remedies for the injured worker, and the employer faces penalties. Those routes exist, but they are handled through the compensation agency and are worth asking an attorney about specifically.

Not being called back is a second issue. Cal. Lab. Code § 132a states: "It is the declared policy of this state that there should not be discrimination against workers who are injured in the course and scope of their employment." Its remedies are compensation increased by one-half up to $10,000, costs up to $250, reinstatement and lost wages, and the conduct is also a misdemeanor. If the burn or a claim about it is why the calls stopped, that is the provision that fits.

If someone other than your employer caused the burn — a defective appliance or piece of equipment, a contractor, another business on the site — that party sits outside the exclusive remedy and can be pursued in ordinary negligence under Cal. Civ. Code § 1714(a).

What you can do

1. Get medical treatment if you have not finished it, and tell each provider the burn happened at work so the chart records it that way.

2. Gather anything that shows the working relationship: text messages and call logs about shifts, schedules, photos of you at the job, notes of what you were paid and when, and the names of coworkers who saw you working.

3. Photograph the burn and keep every bill and discharge instruction.

4. File a workers' compensation claim form. If the employer will not give you one, you can get one from the state workers' compensation agency and file it directly.

5. Ask a local workers' compensation attorney what happens if the employer had no compensation insurance, and whether Labor Code § 132a fits the reason you were not called back.

Most lawyers offer a brief initial call at no cost, and a few minutes on your specific facts with someone licensed in California is worth more than any general guidance, including this page.

⏱ Time limits apply. The workers' compensation system has its own reporting and filing deadlines, and they are shorter than most people expect (Cal. Lab. Code § 5400); Cal. Lab. Code § 132a carries a separate deadline of its own. If a party other than your employer is responsible for the burn, Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1 sets two years for a personal injury claim against that party. Which dates control depends on your facts, so take this to a local workers' compensation attorney promptly rather than waiting to see whether the calls resume.