by 50Cal20 on Sat May 02, 2020 11:27 pm
I just read this string today even though it was initially posted last year. There actually is case law addressing this situation. In fact, I remember it quite well and caused quite a commotion within the industry. In Martinez v. Tarrant Apparel dba Fashion Resource, 2010 Cal. Wrk. Comp. P.D. LEXIS 192, an employee worked 6 months for a temp agency (general employer) and was assigned to work all for six months at Tarrant Apparel (special employer). When the worker was later hired as a regular full time employee by Tarrant Apparel performing essentially the same duties, Tarrant at that time became the general employer with the temp agency no longer in the picture. The employee suffered an industrial injury two days later and eventually alleged a psyche sequelae injury. The question before the Board was, "Did employment at Tarrant while in their capacity as the special employer count towards the six month rule when the worker was subsequently injured two days after becoming a regular employee?" The answer is, "Yes, it counted and the time as a special employee of Tarrant was included when calculating six months of employment." The rationale given by the Board was that while working for both the temp agency and Tarrant, this constituted dual employment between a general and special employer, although wages were paid by the general employer (the temp agency). Therefore, the time worked for a special employer counts, regardless of who issues the payroll check.