If you hire a janitorial company for a building in Los Angeles, California law puts part of the compliance burden on you, not only on the contractor. Janitorial employers must be registered with the state Labor Commissioner and must train their workers on sexual harassment and violence prevention, and a business that signs a cleaning contract it should know is underfunded can be held responsible under the Labor Code. Checking a few documents before you sign protects the building, the tenants and the people doing the work.
This guide walks through the rules that matter most to buyers: who they apply to, what to ask for, and how to read a bid with them in mind.
Why California regulates janitorial work so closely
Janitorial work is done largely at night, often by people working alone in empty buildings, and frequently through layers of contractors and subcontractors. California lawmakers responded with the Property Service Workers Protection Act (AB 1978, signed in 2016, with later amendments that phased in the training rules). It sits alongside older Labor Code sections that already treated janitorial contracts as an industry where low bids tend to hide wage violations.
For a property manager, the practical effect is simple: the contractor's paperwork is part of your due diligence, and the price is part of your legal exposure.
Registration with the Labor Commissioner
Under the Property Service Workers Protection Act, a janitorial employer with at least one employee and at least one covered worker must register with the Labor Commissioner's office (the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement) and renew that registration every year. A covered worker is, broadly, someone whose main job is cleaning commercial, residential or other buildings.
What this means for you:
- Ask for proof of current registration. A registration certificate from last year is not enough, since it must be renewed annually. The Department of Industrial Relations publishes a lookup of registered janitorial employers, so you can confirm status yourself.
- Check every company that will touch the work. If your contractor uses a subcontractor for some buildings or shifts, that company needs its own registration.
- Do not sign with an unregistered employer. The law also bars contracting with a janitorial employer that is not registered, so this is a check for the buyer as much as for the contractor.
Harassment and violence prevention training
Registered janitorial employers must provide sexual violence and harassment prevention training to their workers and supervisors, repeated every two years, in a language the workers understand. Proof of a training program is part of what an employer submits to stay registered.
You do not need to audit the curriculum, but it is reasonable to ask a bidder:
- When their current workers last completed the training.
- How new hires are trained before or soon after their first shift.
- Who a cleaner on your site reports a problem to at night, and how that report reaches management.
Clear answers usually signal a contractor with working supervision. Vague answers often mean the night shift is on its own.
Labor Code 2810: the underfunded contract rule
Labor Code section 2810 applies to several industries, janitorial among them. It makes it unlawful to enter a contract for labor or services when you know, or should know, that the contract does not include enough money for the contractor to comply with labor laws. A worker who was underpaid can bring a claim against a party that signed such a contract.
The section also creates a safe harbour of sorts. A written contract that includes specific information, such as the names and addresses of both parties, the workers' compensation insurance details, the estimated number of workers, the wage rates they will be paid and the length of the agreement, creates a rebuttable presumption that the buyer did not knowingly sign an underfunded deal.
Reading a bid with 2810 in mind
Labour is the largest cost in any cleaning contract. To sanity check a price:
- Ask each bidder for the labour hours per week behind their price.
- Divide the labour portion of the monthly price by the monthly hours to get an effective hourly rate.
- Compare that rate to the applicable minimum wage plus payroll taxes, workers' compensation, paid sick leave, supervision, supplies and margin.
The City of Los Angeles and unincorporated Los Angeles County each set minimum wages above the state rate, and they adjust them on a fixed schedule, so confirm which rate applies to your address and when it next changes. A bid whose effective rate barely clears the wage itself is the kind of number 2810 was written for.
Shared liability for workers supplied by contractors
A separate section, Labor Code 2810.3, can make a "client employer" with 25 or more workers share liability for unpaid wages and missing workers' compensation coverage of workers supplied by a labour contractor, when the work falls within the client's usual course of business. Whether that reaches your cleaning contract depends on your business and how the work is set up, which is a question for your counsel. For most buyers it is one more reason to choose a contractor whose payroll you would be comfortable defending.
A pre-signing checklist for Los Angeles buildings
Before you award a janitorial contract, collect:
- current Labor Commissioner registration for the contractor and any subcontractor;
- a certificate of workers' compensation insurance naming the policy and carrier;
- a certificate of general liability insurance with limits that match your lease or management agreement;
- the training program description and the date of the last training cycle;
- a written scope with labour hours, frequencies and the wage rate assumptions behind the price;
- the name of the night supervisor and the escalation path for complaints.
If you manage several buildings, a consistent commercial cleaning scope across sites makes bids much easier to compare.
Frequently asked questions
Do small offices in Los Angeles need to check janitorial registration?
Yes. The registration rule is triggered by the cleaning company, not by the size of your office. Even a single-suite tenant hiring a two-person crew should confirm the company is registered and current.
Is a janitorial contractor's business license the same as Labor Commissioner registration?
No. A city business tax registration certificate or general business license is a separate requirement. Labor Commissioner registration is specific to janitorial employers and must be renewed each year.
What should we do if our current contractor is not registered?
Ask them for a timeline to register and get it in writing, and talk to your counsel about whether to keep the contract in place meanwhile. Because the law bars contracting with an unregistered janitorial employer, many managers start a new bid process at the same time.
Do these California rules apply to day porters as well as night cleaners?
Generally yes, if the porter's main duties are cleaning and they are employed by a janitorial company. Ask the contractor how they classify each role on your site so the training and registration cover everyone.
Get quotes for your Los Angeles facility
Simple Service is a commercial cleaning company based in Greater Montréal and does not run crews in California. If you are preparing a janitorial bid in Los Angeles, tell us about your facility and we'll connect you with a commercial cleaning team that serves Los Angeles and works within these rules. You can also read our overview of commercial cleaning in Los Angeles.