Employee

An employee is any person rendering actual service in any business for an employer, whether gratuitously or for wages.1 Certain volunteers, independent contractors and participants in a joint enterprise aren’t considered employees for certain purposes, such as workers’ compensation coverage.2

Employer

An employer means every person engaged in any business or enterprise in California, who has one or more people in service.3 An employer can be a person, association, organization, partnership, business trust, limited liability company or corporation.4

Full-Time and Part-Time Employment

You can determine the number of hours required for an employee to be considered full-time versus part-time — there is no standard definition. However, the phrase “full-time” may have different meanings under various laws. For example, the number of hours worked per week can affect whether an employer is covered by a particular law or whether the employee is eligible for certain mandatory benefits. For more information, see .”Full-Time vs. Part-Time Employees” in Direct Hire

Wages

A “wage” is money received by an employee for any labor performed, whether the amount is fixed or determined by the standard of time, task, piece, commission or by other methods of calculation.5

Premium pay for missed breaks under Labor Code section 226.7 also falls within the definition of “wages” under the Labor Code and therefore must be reported on an employee’s wage statement.6 For more information, see Form of Wage Payment.

Stock options — the option to buy company stock at a predetermined exercise price — are not “wages” within the meaning of the Labor Code, even when given as part of an individual’s compensation package.7

1. Lab. Code sec. 350(b)