Section 1812.501.
Cal. Civil Code - CIV § 1812.501.
in effect(a)
(1)
“Employment agency” or “agency” means:
(A)
Any person who, for a fee or other valuable consideration to be paid, directly or indirectly by a jobseeker, performs, offers to perform, or represents it can or will perform any of the following services:
(i)
Procures, offers, promises, or attempts to procure
employment or engagements for others or employees for employers.
(ii)
Registers persons seeking to procure or retain employment or engagement.
(iii)
Gives information as to where and from whom this help, employment, or engagement may be procured.
(iv)
Provides employment or engagements.
(B)
Any person who offers, as one of its main objects or purposes, to procure employment for any person who will pay for its services, or that collects dues, tuition, or membership or registration fees of any sort, if the main object of the person paying those fees is to secure employment.
(C)
Any person who, for a fee or other valuable consideration, procures, offers, promises, provides, or attempts to
procure babysitting or domestic employment for others or domestics or babysitters for others.
(2)
“Employment agency” or “agency” shall not include any employment counseling service or any job listing service.
(b)
(1)
“Employment counseling service” means any person who offers, advertises, or represents it can or will provide any of the following services for a fee: career counseling, vocational guidance, aptitude testing, executive consulting, personnel consulting, career management, evaluation, or planning, or the development of résumés and other promotional materials relating to the preparation for employment. “Employment counseling service” shall not include persons who provide services strictly on an hourly basis with no financial obligation required of the consumer beyond the hourly fee for services rendered. An “employment counseling service” does not
include the functions of an “employment agency” as defined in subdivision (a).
(2)
“Employment counseling service” does not include:
(A)
Businesses that are retained by, act solely on behalf of, and are compensated solely by prior or current employers that do not require any “customer” to sign a contract and do not in any way hold any “customer” liable for fees.
(B)
(i)
Any provider of vocational rehabilitation in which the counseling services are paid for by insurance benefits, if the counseling is provided as a result of marital dissolution or separation proceedings to prepare one of the spouses for reentry into the job market and if the fees are paid by some party other than the person receiving the counseling services.
(ii)
The
exemption provided in this subparagraph does not apply to any vocational rehabilitation counselor who receives any payments directly from the individual customer receiving the counseling.
(C)
Any person who engages solely in the preparation of résumés and cover letters, provided that the résumé writing service does not advertise or hold itself out as offering other job seeking or placement services and does not charge more than three hundred dollars ($300) for any résumé, cover letter, or combination of both to any single customer in any individual transaction.
(D)
Any public educational institution.
(E)
Any private educational institution established solely for educational purposes that, as a part of its curriculum, offers employment counseling to its student body and conforms to the requirements of Article 3.5
(commencing with Section 94760) of Chapter 7 of Part 59 of the Education Code.
(F)
A psychologist or psychological corporation licensed pursuant to Chapter 6.6 (commencing with Section 2900) of Division 2 of the Business and Professions Code, providing psychological assessment, career or occupational counseling, or consultation and related professional services within his, her, or its scope of practice.
(G)
An educational psychologist licensed pursuant to Article 5 (commencing with Section 4986) of Chapter 13 of Division 2 of the Business and Professions Code, providing counseling services within his or her scope of practice.
(c)
“Job listing service” means any person who provides, offers, or represents it can or will provide any of the following services, for a fee or other valuable consideration to be paid,
directly or indirectly, by the jobseeker in advance of, or contemporaneously with, performance of these services: matches jobseekers with employment opportunities, providing or offering to provide jobseekers lists of employers or lists of job openings or like publications, or preparing résumés or lists of jobseekers for distribution to potential employers.
(d)
A “nurses’ registry” as defined in subdivision (b) of Section 1812.524 is an employment agency. However, unless otherwise provided for in this title, a nurses’ registry shall not be required to comply with Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 1812.503) regulating employment agencies but, instead, shall be required to comply with Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 1812.524).
(e)
“Jobseeker” means a person seeking employment.
(f)
“Employer” means any individual,
company, partnership, association, corporation, agent, employee, or representative for whom or for which an employment agency or job listing service attempts to obtain an employee or to place a jobseeker.
(g)
“Job order” means any written or oral instruction, direction, or permission granted by an employer or its agent to an employment agency or job listing service to refer jobseekers for a specified job.
(h)
“Domestic agency” means any agency that provides, or attempts to provide, employment by placement of domestic help in private homes.
(i)
“Deposit” means any money or valuable consideration received by an employment agency or job listing service from a jobseeker for referring the jobseeker to a position of employment prior to the jobseeker’s acceptance of a position.
(j)
“Fee” means:
(1)
Any money or other valuable consideration paid, or promised to be paid, for services rendered or to be rendered by any person conducting an employment agency, employment counseling service, or job listing service under this title.
(2)
Any money received by any person in excess of that which has been paid out by him or her for transportation, transfer of baggage, or board and lodging for any applicant for employment.
(k)
“Registration fee” means any charge made, or attempted to be made, by an employment agency for registering or listing an applicant for employment, for letter writing, or any charge of a like nature made, or attempted to be made without having a bona fide order for the placement of the applicant in a position.
(
l
)
“Person” means any individual, corporation, partnership, limited liability company, trust, association, or other organization.
(m)
This section shall become operative on January 1, 1997.
References
referencesCal. Education Code - EDC § 94760.
referencesCal. Business and Professions Code - BPC § 2900.
referencesCal. Business and Professions Code - BPC § 4986.
referencesCal. Civil Code - CIV § 1812.524.
referencesCal. Civil Code - CIV § 1812.503.
Source: CA Legislative Counsel Bulk DataURL: https://downloads.leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/pubinfo_2025.zipFetched: 6/27/2026