A contractor hires their very first employee, a part-time helper. When must the contractor carry workers' compensation insurance?

Explanation

§3700 requires every employer to secure the payment of compensation and sets no floor at all: there is no minimum headcount and no minimum number of hours, so a single part-time helper is enough. §3351 backs that up by defining an employee as every person in the service of an employer under any appointment or contract of hire or apprenticeship, express or implied, oral or written, whether lawfully or unlawfully employed. That disposes of (b), (c) and (d) together, because hours, headcount and the worker's own preference are all beside the point and an employee cannot waive the employer's duty. On the licensing side, B&P §7125 requires a current Certificate of Workers' Compensation Insurance or Certification of Self-Insurance on file, any no-employee exemption the contractor had filed stops applying the day the helper is hired, and §7125.2 suspends the licence by operation of law from the date coverage was required. (Until January 1, 2028 a licensee with no employees may file that exemption unless it holds a C-8, C-20, C-22, C-39 or D-49 classification; from that date SB 216, as postponed by SB 1455, allows it only to a joint venture under §7029 with no employees.)