Locksmithing occasionONLY for current Employer... Licensing?

[rcollazo71]

Hi!

I am happy to have found a forum where someone may be able to answer this question:

I have known how to pick and re-key locks somewhat since High School; Its one of those "Skills that are nice to know" that I don't practice all the time. Its not a skill that I ever wished to make a living off of, thus why only Now in my middle age when a very valid question came up did I finally feel the need to reach out to others and get this answered.

My Primary job function for my current Employer here in California is in Information Technology (IT). Just like Lockpicking, it involves a TON of trust, given the type of documents that I have access to. Thus, I Fully understand the Trust factor needed for Lockpicking; In getting my IT position, I also had to submit to a Live Scan prior to employment.

My Secondary job function that I have taken on since being hired for IT is Facilities Maintenance: If lights are burnt out I change them, if doors need fixing I repair them, etc.

I have occasionally re-keyed locks (changed out the pins on an cylinder to work with an existing key) as needed only on My Employers Office doors as a part of my Facilities Maintenance job. This helps keep costs down and it gives us the accessibility results as needed, and I am not receiving any other additional pay for having the knowledge of being able to re-key a lock.

I am fully aware that if one were to be re-keying for the General Public, that one must hold a Lockpicking license and be bonded, etc.

As I understand, If you are re-keying for your own Home, there is no requirement to have a license.

My question is this: If I am occasionally Re-keying locks for my Employer, as a Minor part of my Maintenance Job Function and NOT as a "Primary" job function, Do I still need to be licensed?

Up till Now I had assumed that doing this for an Employer is similar to doing it at Home, as its a location that I already have the access authority to be in. A Discussion with someone recently made me question this, and thus I searched for the appropriate forum to present this question.

Thank you for reading this!

[Jacob Morgan]

Generally, locksmithing by company staff for a company's own facility is not subject to the couple of licensing laws I have read. If it is 100% or 1% of ones job is irrelevant. Furthermore, it would be very difficult to imagine any scenario where a state licensing board would even be aware that staff at a building was maintaining its own locks, if they even cared. However, I have never read any of the locksmith laws for California, and I am not an attorney either, so it is not for me to hand out legal advise.

You will need to do your due diligence regarding state and local laws. If you are that concerned, then maybe you could ask the company legal department to look into it.

[Moses057]

You'd be considered an in house locksmith and since you only work on the locks your company owns you don't need a license. It's the same as rekeying your own locks on your house. I'm not completely sure about this 100%
Here might be a great help if you're looking to get a license
http://www.bsis.ca.gov/forms_pubs/locksmith_fact.shtml

[jimu57]

If you are compensated on payroll, then you can work on locks.

[ltdbjd]

Look at 6980.12(b) of the California Business and Professions Code. It provides the exemption you are looking for.

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displayText.xhtml?lawCode=BPC&division=3.&title=&part=&chapter=8.5.&article=3.