Workers’ Comp Class Code 0042: Landscape Gardening
Class code 0042 is the California workers’ comp classification for landscapers and gardeners, from weekly maintenance routes to new installs. The class is broad, but three lines inside it trip up landscape companies at audit: work at height in trees, hardscape and irrigation, and crews that mix landscaping with other work.
What class code 0042 includes
The landscape gardening class covers building, installing, maintaining and repairing landscapes that improve grounds, whether the aim is appearance, planting or function, and it includes ongoing garden maintenance. Grading and preparing land for planting, chipping, spraying fertilizer and herbicide, and clearing weeds for fire control all sit in it.
It also takes in reforestation and clearing brush or overgrowth for others, as long as the work is not tied to the employer’s own logging, which is classified in 2702(1). For an overview of how California assigns classes, see our California workers’ comp class code guide.
Tree work and the height line
Pruning and trimming trees and hedges belong in 0042 only when nothing at that job needs ladders, lifts or climbing. Once any of the trimming at a job is done off the ground, it moves to a separate tree-work classification with its own rate.
That is decided job by job, so a hedge route and a crown reduction for the same customer can land in different classes. Keep work orders that say whether elevation was used; they are the easiest way to show an auditor which jobs stayed at ground level.
Hardscape, irrigation and the 50 percent test
Fountains, statuary, decorative pools, garden lighting, drainage and sprinkler systems count as landscape gardening when the same employer is more than 50 percent engaged in landscape work at that job. A company that comes in only to install a sprinkler system, without the landscape work around it, reports that payroll in the plumbing classes, 5183(1) and 5187(1).
Irrigation work on your own farm is a different matter again and goes to the farm classes. If irrigation is a growing part of your business, price it with the plumbing codes in mind before you bid.
Reporting landscape payroll
When one kind of work normally prevails in your business, the whole payroll goes to that class, support staff included. Separate classes come into play only for genuinely distinct operations, and where crews move between them, a worker without original time records that separate the hours is reported entirely in the higher-rated class.
Under the CSLB’s minor work exemption, a landscaper can take jobs up to $1,000 without a contractor license only if the job needs no permit and the landscaper hires no one for it; past that point, a license is required. Our landscaping insurance checklist covers the paperwork side.
Checking and disputing your 0042 assignment
Your insurer assigns the class at issue and confirms it at audit, so start with the declarations page. If you believe a job or a crew was classified wrongly, you can write to the WCIRB with the policyholder and insurer names and the reason, within 12 months after the policy expires.
The WCIRB can ask you for information, and you have 60 days to answer. If you disagree with its decision, a formal complaint can be filed within 60 days of that decision, or if the WCIRB has not answered within 90 days, and an appeal to the Insurance Commissioner comes after that.
How 0042 shapes a landscaper’s premium
The WCIRB’s advisory pure premium rate for 0042 effective September 1, 2026 is 5.580 per $100 of payroll, against a statewide average of $1.65. This is the loss-cost benchmark the Commissioner approved; insurers are not bound by it and apply their own rates, expenses and credits. Once your expected losses reach $11,700, measured with the WCIRB’s expected loss rates, you are also experience rated, and your own claims start to move the price.
When we request workers’ compensation quotes for a landscaping company, we describe the tree, hardscape and irrigation work so the insurer can decide the classes. More on the full program is on our landscaping business insurance page.
A few useful answers
Common questions
Does tree trimming fall under class code 0042?
Only when no work at that job needs ladders, lifts or climbing. Tree work done at height is classified separately.
Are irrigation installs 0042 or plumbing?
Sprinkler and drainage systems are 0042 when the same employer does more than half landscape work at that job. A stand-alone sprinkler install goes to the plumbing classes, 5183(1) and 5187(1).
Is hardscape included in landscape gardening?
Fountains, statuary, decorative pools and garden lighting are included under the same more-than-50-percent landscape test at each job.
Is weed abatement for fire control in 0042?
Yes. Clearing weeds for fire control is part of the landscape gardening class, along with brush and overgrowth control for others not tied to logging.