Will delegating responsibility to a staffing company avoid primary legal liability?

Employers can contractually delegate payroll, withholding of taxes, and all employee benefit responsibility, although they may need to count the individuals as employees for coverage purposes. However, an employer cannot delegate primary legal liability to another for problems that arise under most other employment laws, such as OSHA or Title VII.

• one employee (OSHA and NLRA),
• two employees (FLSA),
• 15 employees (Title VII and ADA),
• 20 employees (ADEA and COBRA),
• 50 employees (FMLA), or
• 100 employees (WARN).

Title VII, ADEA, ADA, and FMLA apply to employers with the specified number of employees for each working day of each of 20 or more work weeks of the current or preceding calendar year. WARN excludes part-time employees when counting heads. Title VII, however, includes as employees those who work as little as two hours per day. Each law must be consulted to determine if contingent workers count toward the coverage threshold.