Reverend Mark Sharpe filed a claim of wrongful termination (or “unfair dismissal”, as they call it in England) against his employer after being forced out by purportedly having his tires slashed, his post tampered with and his dog poisoned. The Vicar’s pain was only exacerbated when his claim and appeal was thrown out after a court ruled that he was not employed by the Church but was working for God and therefore “employed by God”. (Click here for additional information.)

Apart from the obvious qualms about his faith that such an experience may raise, for our purposes it raises the very relevant question of “who is the employer”? Well, as a reminder, California has a new rule on the books that should make every creative business owner rethink playing that popular game of “not it” as an employer. In California, that game is not usually played with the help of God, but through the assistance of having employees supplied from a professional employer organization or a temporary employee agency.

However, as of January 1, 2015, the California Labor Code § 2810.3 states that each affected California employer will jointly be responsible and liable with its labor contractors for the “payment of wages” to and failure to secure workers’ compensation for temporary contracted workers assigned to the employer.

In other words, it’s time to know who is the employer under the law. Or you can just claim we’re all “working for god” and see how that works out for you.

Amen to that.

This blog is presented under protest by the law firm of Ervin Cohen & Jessup LLP.  It is essentially the random thoughts and opinions of someone who lives in the trenches of the war that often is employment law–he/she may well be a little shell-shocked.  So if you are thinking “woohoo, I just landed some free legal advice that will fix all my problems!”, think again.  This is commentary, people, a sketchy overview of some current legal issue with a dose of humor, but commentary nonetheless; as if Dennis Miller were a lawyer…and still mildly amusing.  No legal advice here; you would have to pay real US currency for that (unless you are my mom, and even then there are limits).  But feel free to contact us with your questions and comments—who knows, we might even answer you.  And if you want to spread this stuff around, feel free to do so, but please keep it in its present form (‘cause you can’t mess with this kind of poetry).  Big news: Copyright 2015.  All rights reserved; yep, all of them.