AIHSS

On this petition for peremptory writ of mandate (petition) we are presented with the question of whether compliance with the provisions of Civil Code section 1812.5095, part of the Employment Agency, Employment Counseling, and Job Listing Services Act (Employment Agency Act) (§ 1812.500 et seq.) exempts petitioner An Independent Home Support Service, Inc. (AIHSS), a referral agency that provides domestic workers to individuals and entities, from state law requirements of maintaining workers’ compensation insurance for the domestic workers. We conclude that by complying with the terms of section 1812.5095 such referral agencies are deemed not to be the employers, for the purposes of workers’ compensation, of the domestic workers they refer. Accordingly, we issue a writ of mandate directing respondent Superior Court of San Diego County to vacate its order granting real party in interest State Compensation Insurance Fund’s (State Fund) motion to strike references in AIHSS’s complaint to Civil Code sections 1812.5095 and 1812.501, and Unemployment Insurance Code section 687.2.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

AIHSS is a domestic agency as defined in section 1812.501,…