In California, how long can a company keep a 40 hr week "freelancer" without having to pay benifits, etc?

Answer 1

Not sure if by freelancer you mean contractor if so you might want to research the link below. But in general employers need to pay benefits once an employee works 30 hours per week in California. I might be off by five hours so it may be 35 hours but the point is that is for employees and not contractors.