The Importance of Defining the Employer for the Protection of Employees' Rights

Employers often assign specific tasks to external contractors through various business models (such as temporary agency work, outsourcing, and franchising). This creates tripartite contractual relationships involving the worker, their employer, and a third party (the client). In cases where the client has significant influence over the employment status of the employees of this external contractor, the question may arise as to who the real employer is – the external contractor or the client? In any case, in the case of tripartite employment relationships, the question arises as to the need to divide the employer's obligations between the formal employer and the client or to impose (joint) liability on the client for (some) of the formal employer's obligations. The question of the actual employer and the determination of the (joint) liability of an entity that is not the formal employer is examined, primarily in relation to temporary agency work and outsourcing.