If a California business moves containers out of a port through a trucking company, Labor Code section 2810.4 can make it share that company’s liability to the drivers. Since January 1, 2025, a customer shares liability for a carrier’s misclassification of drivers whether or not the carrier is on the state’s list of problem carriers, and a customer using a listed carrier is jointly and severally liable for most wage debts. The defense depends on who the customer is and how the carrier engaged its drivers.
Who counts as a customer under section 2810.4?
Almost any business that uses port trucking, directly or through a middleman. Section 2810.4(a)(2)(A) defines a customer as a business entity “that engages or uses a port drayage motor carrier to perform port drayage services on the customer’s behalf,” whether it does so directly or “through the use of an agent, including, but not limited to, a freight forwarder, motor transportation broker, ocean carrier, or other motor carrier.” An importer that never signed a contract with the trucking company can still be the customer.
The same subdivision leaves out three groups. A business “with a workforce of fewer than 25 workers,” counting workers hired through a temporary employer or labor contractor, isn’t a customer. Neither is the state or any political subdivision, or a business such as a marine terminal operator that only exchanges intermodal equipment with the carrier under an equipment interchange agreement.
Port drayage services are defined broadly too. Under subdivision (a)(7), the term covers “the movement within California of cargo or intermodal equipment by a commercial motor vehicle whose point-to-point movement has either its origin or destination at a port.” A haul from the Port of Long Beach to an inland warehouse fits, and so does a return trip with an empty container.
What changed on January 1, 2025?
Customer liability for misclassification no longer depends on a list. Assembly Bill 2754 (Stats. 2024, ch. 739) added a new subdivision (b), which says a customer “shall share with the motor carrier or the motor carrier’s successor all civil legal responsibility and civil liability owed to a port drayage driver or the state arising out of the motor carrier’s misclassification of the driver as an independent contractor, regardless of whether or not the port drayage motor carrier is on the list.” Before 2025, a customer that avoided listed carriers generally avoided the shared liability. That safe harbor is gone for misclassification claims.
The subdivision has two exits. Under the same subdivision, the customer has no liability if the carrier uses its own employee drivers, or if it uses bona fide independent contractors who each possess “their own operating authority” and have a business relationship with the carrier “that meets the California legal standard for being determined an independent contractor.” Both exits are factual questions about the carrier’s drivers, so a customer can’t prove them without records the carrier holds.
That’s why the contract with the carrier matters more now than it did before. A customer that requires the carrier to use employee drivers, or to document each independent contractor’s operating authority and contract, is building the record it will need to show one of the exits applies.
What happens if the carrier is on the Labor Commissioner’s list?
Joint and several liability for nearly every wage debt. The Division of Labor Standards Enforcement posts carriers with unsatisfied final judgments, tax assessments, or liens tied to unpaid wages, unlawful expenses, unpaid payroll taxes, missing workers’ compensation coverage, or misclassification, and it also posts prior offenders with later violations. The list is updated monthly. A customer that uses a listed carrier is liable “for port drayage services obtained after the date the motor carrier appeared on the list, meaning joint and several liability,” under subdivision (c)(3).
The debts covered include unpaid wages of every kind, premium wages among them, unlawful deductions and unreimbursed business expenses under section 2802, civil penalties for missing workers’ compensation coverage, state employment tax assessments, health and safety liability, and the damages and penalties set by sections 203, 226, 226.8, 248.5, 558, 1194.2, and 1197.1, plus interest. Each of those sections has its own conditions and caps, so the amount a customer shares depends on what the driver or the state can prove under each one.
Liability is measured by the workweek and the dispatch. Under subdivision (c)(4), the customer is liable “from the time the driver is dispatched to begin work on behalf of the customer until all tasks are completed incidental to that work,” including the return of an empty chassis or container. A customer that can show which loads, which drivers, and which weeks were its own can narrow a claim that names every shipper the carrier served.
| Source of liability | When it applies | Customer’s first defenses |
|---|---|---|
| Subdivision (b) misclassification | Any carrier, listed or not, on and after January 1, 2025 | Carrier used employee drivers, or bona fide contractors with their own operating authority |
| Subdivision (c)(3) listed carrier | Services obtained after the carrier appeared on the list | Carrier wasn’t listed for the period, or had met the removal conditions |
| Existing contract at listing | A contract in place when the carrier was listed | Liability is delayed for a limited period, except for subdivision (b) claims |
| Collective bargaining exclusion | Carrier’s employees are under a qualifying agreement | Agreement covers wages and disputes and waives joint liability |
| Who isn’t a customer | Under 25 workers, public entities, interchange-only businesses | Workforce count and the business’s actual role |
What exclusions and defenses does the statute give a customer?
Several, though most don’t reach misclassification claims. Subdivision (e) excludes customers of carriers whose employees are covered by a bona fide collective bargaining agreement that expressly provides for wages, hours, working conditions, a dispute process for unpaid wages and penalties, “and a waiver of the joint and several liability provided by this section.” It also delays liability for a limited time when the customer had an existing contract at the time of listing and wants to end it, and it excludes carriers that weren’t listed or had met the removal conditions. The last three exclusions each begin “Except for liability established pursuant to subdivision (b),” so they don’t help with a misclassification claim.
The statute closes off a few arguments customers often reach for first. A carrier must give each customer the text of the section and notice of unsatisfied judgments, but under subdivision (h), “The failure of the motor carrier to provide notice under subdivision (f) or (g) shall not be a defense.” Under subdivision (o), “A waiver of this section is contrary to public policy, and is void and unenforceable.” A clause in the trucking contract saying the customer isn’t liable won’t work against a driver or the state.
What the customer can keep is a claim against the carrier. Subdivision (k) preserves contract and equitable remedies between jointly liable parties, “including, but not limited to, a right of contribution and indemnity against each other for liability created by acts of a port drayage motor carrier.” An indemnity clause backed by insurance or a solvent carrier is worth more than a waiver. The post on labor contractor liability under Labor Code section 2810 covers a related rule for businesses that contract for labor.
How are claims against a customer brought?
Through the Labor Commissioner or a court, but not through PAGA. Under subdivision (d), liability is decided by the Labor Commissioner in a wage claim proceeding, a de novo appeal, or a citation, or by a court in a civil action brought by the Labor Commissioner or a driver after advance written notice to the customer of its potential liability. The same subdivision says, “No civil action for a violation or enforcement of this section shall be brought pursuant to Part 13 (commencing with Section 2698) of Division 2,” which is the Private Attorneys General Act.
The advance notice is the customer’s first warning. A letter from a driver’s lawyer or the Labor Commissioner describing potential joint and several liability opens the customer’s best chance to gather records and talk to the carrier before a lawsuit is filed. The Labor Commissioner can also demand records under subdivision (l), which requires a customer to provide information “required to verify compliance with applicable state laws.”
The statute also bars retaliation. Subdivision (i) says a customer or carrier “shall not take any adverse action against any commercial driver” for reporting violations or filing a claim. Refusing to accept loads from a driver who filed a wage claim is the kind of step that can turn a shared wage claim into a separate retaliation claim.
What should a customer do after a driver’s wage claim or notice arrives?
- Preserve the trucking contracts, rate confirmations, broker and freight forwarder agreements, dispatch and load records, gate transaction records, and emails with the carrier under a litigation hold.
- Calendar every date in the notice, citation, or complaint, and check the carrier contract’s indemnity and insurance terms, any arbitration clause, and the company’s EPLI and general liability policies for notice requirements.
- Identify who at the company chose the carrier and managed the account, and make sure no one refuses loads from or acts against any driver because of the claim.
- Pull the documents the claim depends on, such as the carrier’s driver contracts and operating authority, the Labor Commissioner’s list for the relevant months, and the company’s workforce count.
- Talk to a lawyer before responding to the Labor Commissioner or the driver’s lawyer, demanding indemnity from the carrier, or paying anything.
Businesses that use port trucking can find more on port trucking wage liability defense for shippers and importers on the firm’s employment defense page.
Port drayage liability questions from California shippers
Does section 2810.4 apply if a broker booked the trucks?
Usually yes. Subdivision (a)(2)(A) counts a business that uses a carrier “indirectly” through an agent, and it names freight forwarders, motor transportation brokers, ocean carriers, and other motor carriers as examples. A shipper that only deals with its broker can still be the customer. The broker’s contract and its records of which carrier hauled each load become part of the defense.
Can our trucking contract waive section 2810.4 liability?
No. Subdivision (o) makes “A waiver of this section” void and unenforceable. The contract can still require the carrier to use employee drivers, to document independent contractors’ operating authority, to carry insurance, and to indemnify the customer. Those terms don’t stop a driver’s claim, but they shape the customer’s record and its recovery from the carrier.
Can a driver bring a PAGA claim against the customer under this section?
Not for a violation or enforcement of section 2810.4. Subdivision (d) bars civil actions under Part 13 of Division 2, which is where PAGA sits. A driver or the Labor Commissioner can still pursue the customer through a wage claim, a citation, or a civil action after notice. Other theories of liability aren’t displaced, so a complaint may plead more than this section.
Do we have to check the Labor Commissioner’s list every month?
The list is updated monthly, and liability under subdivision (c)(3) runs from the date a carrier appears on it. Checking before each new contract and on a regular schedule gives the company a record. Since 2025, a clean list check doesn’t end the inquiry, because misclassification liability under subdivision (b) applies to unlisted carriers too.
If a port truck driver’s wage claim names your company
If your company has received a notice that it may share a trucking company’s liability to port drivers, the carrier’s driver contracts and the company’s own load records usually decide how much of the claim reaches it. Rosenberger + Kawabata represents employers defending employment lawsuits and claims through its business litigation practice, including claims involving port drayage driver wages. Contact Rosenberger + Kawabata online for a confidential consultation, or call (310) 894-6921.
Sources
The statute is Labor Code section 2810.4, as last amended by Assembly Bill 2754 (Stats. 2024, ch. 739), effective January 1, 2025.
This post is general information about California and federal employment law as of November 7, 2026. It is not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Employment statutes, regulations, and court decisions change often, and the outcome of any claim depends on its facts. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.