Employment under the Unemployment Insurance Code has been defined as service performed for wages or under a contract of hire.
Service is defined as performance of labor for the benefit of another or at another's command.
Therefore, a person who is self-employed, or an independent contractor is unemployed within the meaning of the Unemployment Insurance Code since such a person is not performing service for wages under any contract of hire, or at another's command. The Superior Court of Los Angeles County considered the case of a self-employed individual in People v Nest . The claimant was self-employed in a clothing business and claiming unemployment insurance benefits as a unemployed individual. Certainly these definitions do not embrace the activities of the defendant in . . . He was not under 'any contract of hire' express or implied.