Workers' compensation: independent contractors.

Existing law establishes a workers' compensation system to compensate an employee for an injury sustained in the course of his or her employment. Existing law requires that these provisions be liberally construed by the courts with the purpose of extending the benefits of these provisions for the protection of persons injured in the course of their employment. This bill would, require that these provisions be strictly construed by the courts with respect to what constitutes an independent contractor, as defined for purposes of limiting the inappropriate extension of these benefits to persons not intended to receive them.