Companies with fewer than ten employees are exempt from California’s Proposition 65 warning requirements but may nonetheless have a sophisticated distribution network for their product, making them an attractive target for Proposition 65 plaintiffs. What should you do if your company receives a 60-Day Notice of Intent to Sue (“Notice”), threatening to sue you for failing to make Proposition 65 warnings about your product?

In some cases, if the plaintiff is satisfied you have fewer than ten employees, they may agree not to file litigation or take any further action. Be wary, however, of providing certain information that plaintiff’s counsel may ask you to produce to prove you have fewer than ten employees – such as confidential business information or tax returns. In some cases, you may want to consider requiring the plaintiff to enter into a confidentiality agreement before providing any information, prohibiting the plaintiff or its attorneys from disclosing the information to third parties.

You should be aware that establishing you have fewer than ten employees may be less straight-forward that it may initially appear. For example, for purposes of Proposition 65, employees may include officers and directors or partners of the company. Title 27, Section 25102(h).

Moreover, in general, the term “employees” for purposes of Proposition 65 incorporates the definition of employees under Section 3351 of the Labor Code and Section 621 of the Unemployment Insurance Code Section 621. Id. Section 621 of the Unemployment Insurance Code was amended last year to significantly expand the situations under which workers – who were previously considered independent contractors – may now be considered employees under California law. Although the new legislation was primarily designed to target the gig economy – requiring companies to provide benefits to workers – Proposition 65 plaintiffs may assert these definitions also apply to Proposition 65.

In addition, if you distribute your product through retailers, including on-line retailers, who have ten or more employees, you should check your contract with the retailer for indemnity provisions (or any obligation to provide them with information about any Proposition 65-listed chemical in your products). If the plaintiff serves a Notice on the retailer, these indemnity provisions may be implicated. Under certain circumstances, if your product could expose persons to a Proposition 65-listed chemical above levels that are considered safe under Proposition 65, retailers selling your product must give a warning even if your company is not required to provide a warning. 27 CCR § 25600.2 (e)(5).

You may also want to evaluate whether an informal unwritten agreement from the plaintiff not to sue your company is sufficient or whether your company may have reasons why a more formal written resolution may be desirable (e.g., any actual or anticipated third-party contracts that may be implicated by an unresolved threat of litigation).

In conclusion, even companies with fewer than ten employees may become targets of threatened Proposition 65 claims – and should evaluate how best to respond to the Notice depending on the facts of their situation.