Classifying Supervisory Employees
Classifying Supervisory Employees
December 29, 2023
The California Workers’ Compensation Uniform Statistical Reporting Plan—1995 (USRP) has three rules found in Part 3, Section III, General Classification Procedures that are on-point when classifying supervisory employees. They are Rule 3d, Miscellaneous Employees, Rule 4a, Clerical Office Employees, and Rule 5, General Inclusions.
Rule 5 directs that supervisors are a General Inclusion. Rule 5 states, in relevant part:
| 5. General Inclusions The operations listed below are included in all classifications other than Standard Exception classifications. Except as provided in Section VII, Standard Classifications, general inclusions shall not be separately classified, all other provisions contained herein notwithstanding. Any operation described by a general inclusion shall nevertheless be subject to division of payroll if conducted as a separate and distinct enterprise and having no relation to the operations described by any other classification. • • • j. Supervisors whose work is necessary, incidental or appurtenant to any operations of the business. |
Supervisors whose work is involved in any level of the operations of the business must be assigned to the basic classification that describes the business. For example, a supervisor that oversees hardware store operations must be assigned to the classification that applies to hardware stores: Classification 8010, Stores – hardware, electrical or plumbing supplies.
Many supervisory employees spend a significant portion of their time engaged in office work, and the WCIRB receives questions asking whether supervisory employees can be classified as 8810(1), Clerical Office Employees. Section III, Rule 4a in the USRP defines Clerical Office Employees, and includes the following restriction:
| Supervisors and clerks, such as time, stock or tally clerks, whose work is (1) necessary to, (2) performed in connection with, or (3) related to any operations of the business other than clerical office operations, shall not be classified as Clerical Office Employees or Clerical Telecommuter Employees. |
Rule 4a establishes that an employee that supervises any operations other than clerical operations is not a Clerical Office Employee.
When an employer’s operations consist of two or more distinct operations that do not normally prevail in the business described by a single classification, and as such have been assigned to more than one classification based on the provisions of Section III, Rule 3, Multiple Enterprises, it is not uncommon for a supervisor to oversee more than one classifiable operation. If so, the supervisor is a miscellaneous employee who is assigned to the governing classification (the classification that develops the greatest amount of payroll) of the group of classifications to which their work pertains. Rule 3d states, in relevant part, the following:
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d. Miscellaneous Employees do not engage in operations that are integral to each classifiable operation but perform operations in general support of more than one classifiable operation and cannot properly be classified in accordance with a single classification. Examples of Miscellaneous Employees include but are not limited to supervisors, maintenance employees, power plant employees, laboratory researchers, security guards, shipping and receiving clerks, and yard employees. Unless otherwise directed in this Plan, Miscellaneous Employees shall be assigned to the Governing Classification of the group of classifications to which their work pertains. |
More Classification Resources
The Standard Classification System: Miscellaneous Employees
The Standard Classification System: General Inclusions
Classification Search
Classification Information
Online Guide to Workers' Compensation: The Standard Classification System