Class Code 9079: What Replaced It in California

What replaced class code 9079 in California

The six successor classes are:

9080 Restaurants – full service
9081(1) Restaurants – N.O.C.
9082 Caterers – not restaurants
9083 Restaurants – fast food or fast casual
9084 Bars or Taverns – not restaurants
9058 Hotels, Motels or Short-Term Residential Housing – food or beverage employees

Concessionaires moved at the same time. The old 9079(2), for concessions at ballparks, race tracks, theaters, concert venues and amusement or recreation facilities, became 9081(2). A California policy term that began on or after September 1, 2024 should show none of the old 9079 numbers, so a quote that still uses one needs correcting.

Matching your operation to a new food and beverage code

The new classes sort food businesses by how they serve rather than by menu or price. A chart from insurance wholesaler BTIS, laid out on the WCIRB’s key operating characteristics, summarizes the tests:

9083, fast food or fast casual: customers order at a counter or drive-through, pay when they order and seat themselves.
9080, full service: wait staff serve at the table and the bill is paid at the end of the meal.
9084, bars and taverns: minors are not allowed, the business holds ABC license type 42, 48 or 61, and beer tasting rooms and taprooms belong here. The September 1, 2026 filing confirms 9084 for taprooms and bars that also serve hot food.
9082, caterers: food is prepared, delivered or served only at customer locations, with no dine-in site.
9058, hotel food and beverage: hotel employees who work only in food or beverage, such as continental breakfast or room service.
9081(1), the rest: food trucks, trailers, carts and temporary booths selling hot food, hot food departments in grocery stores, doughnut shops, and food and beverage at amusement or athletic facilities.

The same menu can land in different classes: served at tables by waiters, it points to 9080, and ordered and paid for at the counter, it points to 9083.

Food businesses outside the restaurant classes

Not every food counter belongs in the new group. Under the 2020 USRP, a sandwich shop where prepared cold food makes up at least half of gross receipts at the location uses 8078(1), Sandwich Shops – not restaurants – N.O.C. Retail stores that add hot food have that work classified apart from their store class, as our page on class code 8017 explains. Serving alcohol also raises a liability question that workers’ comp does not answer; see liquor liability insurance.

Reporting restaurant payroll after the change

Payroll follows the class that fits the operation, and the time records behind it matter as much as the code. Where an employee’s hours are not split by type of work in original time records, that person’s full pay goes to the highest-rated class involved. Bookkeeping staff working in a separated office may qualify for the 8810 clerical class. Covered executive officers, partners and LLC members are reported on actual pay between $66,300 and $171,600 a year under the WCIRB’s September 1, 2026 filing.

A change in service model is a change of operations. A restaurant that moves from table service to counter ordering, or a bar that drops its ABC license type, is doing different work, and a WCIRB reclassification for a change of operations takes effect on the date of the change.

How to check your restaurant class code with the WCIRB

Start with the policy information page: it should show one of the six new codes, not class code 9079. Compare the WCIRB’s description of that class with how customers order, pay and sit at your location. The rate stakes inside the six are small today, but moving between 8078 and a restaurant class is not, and a correction to a higher-rated class runs back to the start of the error if it is published or noticed within three months. To dispute a classification, write to the WCIRB within 12 months after the policy expires; the California class code guide explains the steps after that.

What the new codes mean for your premium

For September 1, 2026, the WCIRB’s advisory pure premium rate is 2.784 per $100 of payroll for each of 9080, 9081, 9082, 9083, 9084 and 9058, and the rate file has no line for 9079. On $250,000 of kitchen and floor payroll that works out to $6,960, while the same payroll in the 8078 sandwich shop class, at 1.381, would be $3,452.50. Read these as the yearly loss-cost starting point the WCIRB publishes. Insurers file their own rates, apply credits or debits and the x-mod, and a quote reflects all of that.

When we request workers’ comp quotes for a restaurant, bar or caterer, we describe the service model, the license type and payroll by role, and the insurer decides after reviewing them. The restaurant insurance page covers the rest of the policy set, and mobile and catering operations have their own page.

A few useful answers

Common questions

What replaced class code 9079 in California?

Six classes, for policies starting on or after September 1, 2024: 9080 full-service restaurants, 9081(1) restaurants not otherwise classified, 9082 caterers, 9083 fast food or fast casual, 9084 bars and taverns, and 9058 hotel food or beverage employees.

Is a brewery taproom a bar under the new codes?

Beer tasting rooms and taprooms are listed under 9084, Bars or Taverns – not restaurants, and the WCIRB’s September 1, 2026 filing confirms 9084 for taprooms and bars that also serve hot food.

Which code does a food truck use now that 9079 is gone?

Mobile hot food vending, including food trucks, trailers, carts and temporary booths, falls under 9081(1), Restaurants – N.O.C.

Do catering staff need class code 9082?

9082 is for caterers that prepare, deliver or serve food only at customer locations and have no dine-in location. Ask your insurer how catering done by a restaurant’s own staff is reported.

Workers’ Comp Class Code 9079: Restaurants and Its Replacements