Is a defendant required to prove that a plaintiff is an employee?

Moreover, shifting the burden of proof to defendants would run afoul of Evidence Code section 500, which requires a plaintiff to bear the burden of proof "as to each fact the existence or nonexistence of which is essential to the claim for relief ... that he is asserting." It is essential to plaintiff's [146 Cal.App.3d 661] claim that he be either a licensed contractor, per section 7031, or an employee, per section 7053. Plaintiff pleaded that he was an employee. Evidence Code section 500 would, therefore, ordinarily place the burden of proof upon plaintiff to establish that he was an employee. (See Polk v. Polk (1964) 228 Cal.App.2d 763, 787, 39 Cal.Rptr. 824.)