Direct-contractor liability

A direct contractor can be responsible for a subcontractor’s covered labor debts on private works; the governing statute depends on the contract date.

California construction · Lab. Code §§ 218.7–218.9 · § 218.9 for contracts from Jan. 1, 2026

Contract date is essential. Section 218.7 addresses contracts entered from January 1, 2018 through December 31, 2021; § 218.8 covers January 1, 2022 through December 31, 2025. Section 218.9, added by SB 597, governs contracts entered on or after January 1, 2026.

Under § 218.9, a direct contractor on private work assumes specified labor debts incurred by subcontractors at any tier for labor within the owner’s contract. The liability is limited to labor payments required by the subcontractor’s agreement with the laborer or its collective agreement. Penalties and liquidated damages have additional conditions, including rules concerning knowledge, payroll monitoring, corrective action and a final-payment affidavit.

The statute identifies who may enforce this liability, supplies a one-year filing period measured from specified completion events, and provides a conditional joint-check protection for benefit contributions. Payroll and project-information provisions also matter. These are statutory claims with defined conditions; the three contract-date regimes should not be treated as interchangeable.

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