AB 443

Under current law, subject to certain exceptions, every person in the service of

another under any contract of hire, express or implied, is considered to be an

employee for purposes of the worker's compensation law, which requires an employer

that is subject to that law to pay disability benefits and the cost of medical treatment

for an employee who sustains an injury while performing services growing out of and

incidental to employment. Current law, however, excludes from the coverage under

the worker's compensation law independent contractors who, among other things,

maintain separate businesses, operate under contracts to perform specific services

or work for specific amounts of money, may realize a profit or suffer a loss under those

contracts, and control the means of performing their services or work.

This bill excludes from coverage under the worker's compensation law a person

performing services as an umpire, referee, judge, scorekeeper, timekeeper, organizer,

or as any other neutral participant in a sports event or contest (sports official) for a

public, private, or tribal school; an institution of higher education; a nonstock,

nonprofit corporation; or a public agency (the state or a county, city, village, or town)

that is sponsoring an interscholastic, intercollegiate, or other amateur sports event

or contest, unless the person performing those services is otherwise employed by the

sponsor of the event or contest and performs those services as part of his or her

regular employment duties.