Prop 65 small-business exemption

Prop 65 with fewer than 10 employees: does a small Shopify store still need a warning?

Direct answer. California’s OEHHA says a business with fewer than 10 employees is exempt from Proposition 65’s warning requirements, and the count includes full-time and part-time employees on the date the exposure occurs. The exemption does not remove contract duties such as a supplier agreement that tells you to show a warning or to indemnify, so check those before you take any warning off a product page.

Prop 65 Warning Manager (Shopify App Store) attaches a Prop 65 warning to product pages, and every warning needs your approval before it goes live. This page is about the question that comes first for a small shop: whether the law applies to you at all. The app does not decide that, and this page is not legal advice.

Related: CLPLens — Hazard pictograms on the product page, not only the parcel.

Free check first: Prop 65 warning question check runs in your browser and sends nothing. Describe a product and see which list names and 27 CCR warning rules to read.

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What OEHHA says about the exemption

OEHHA, the California agency that administers Proposition 65, answers on its business FAQ that a company is exempt from the warning requirements if it has fewer than 10 employees. The same FAQ says Proposition 65 applies to all businesses with 10 or more employees that do business in California, and that out-of-state internet retailers are not exempt on that basis.

Sources: OEHHA business FAQ and Are any businesses exempt? on the Proposition 65 Warnings website.

How the employee count works

The FAQ quotes 27 CCR § 25102(h): in computing the number, all full-time and part-time employees on the date the exposure occurs must be counted. The regulation defines “employee” by reference to California’s Unemployment Insurance Code section 621 and Labor Code section 3351, so who counts is a legal question, not a payroll shortcut.

The regulation’s own wording around the threshold varies between “ten or fewer” and “ten or more”. If your headcount is at or near 10, get advice before you rely on the exemption.

Install Prop 65 Warning Manager → pick a template → approve it before go-live

What the exemption leaves open

Contracts. OEHHA notes that a business under the threshold may still have contractual obligations or indemnification agreements related to Proposition 65 warnings. A supplier, marketplace or wholesale agreement can ask for a warning you would not otherwise owe.
A 60-day notice. OEHHA says a retail seller that learns of an exposure only through a 60-day notice has five business days to correct the alleged violation, by adding a warning or by stopping sale of the product. Its small-business guidance says to check your contracts and your employee count, then respond to whoever sent the notice.

Install Prop 65 Warning Manager and keep the approved warning

A checklist before you remove or skip a warning

Count employees as the regulation does, for the date of the sale. Write the number and the date down.
Read every supplier, marketplace and wholesale agreement for warning, compliance or indemnity clauses.
Check whether a supplier has sent you warning text or a written notice for a product.
Decide, product by product, whether to keep a warning anyway. Whether to show one anyway is a business decision to make with advice.
If you keep or add one, approve the exact text and chemical name before it goes live, and keep the decision on file.

What this page is not

Not legal advice or a ruling that your store is exempt.
Not a count of your employees or a view on who is an employee under California law.
Not a list of every product that needs a warning.

Not legal advice. Re-check the cited law and the current app page before you rely on this page.

Install Prop 65 Warning Manager on the Shopify App Store