2011 Wisconsin Statutes 102.04 – Definition of employer
102.04
102.04 Definition of employer.
102.04(1)(b)
(b)
102.04(1)(b)3.
3. This paragraph shall not apply to farmers or farm labor.
102.04(1)
(1) The following shall constitute employers subject to the provisions of this chapter, within the meaning of § 102.03:
102.04(1)(a)
(a) The state, each county, city, town, village, school district, sewer district, drainage district, long-term care district and other public or quasi-public corporations therein.
102.04(1)(b)1.
1. Every person who usually employs 3 or more employees for services performed in this state, whether in one or more trades, businesses, professions, or occupations, and whether in one or more locations.
102.04(1)(b)2.
2. Every person who usually employs less than 3 employees, provided the person has paid wages of $500 or more in any calendar quarter for services performed in this state. Such employer shall become subject on the 10th day of the month next succeeding such quarter.
102.04(1)(c)
(c) Every person engaged in farming who on any 20 consecutive or nonconsecutive days during a calendar year employs 6 or more employees, whether in one or more locations. The provisions of this chapter shall apply to such employer 10 days after the twentieth such day.
102.04(1)(d)
(d) Every joint venture electing under § 102.28 (2)(a) to be an employer.
102.04(1)(e)
(e) Every person to whom pars. (a) to (d) are not applicable, who has any person in service under any contract of hire, express or implied, oral or written, and who, at or prior to the time of the injury to the employee for which compensation may be claimed, shall, as provided in § 102.05, have elected to become subject to the provisions of this chapter, and who shall not, prior to such accident, have effected a withdrawal of such election.
102.04(2)
(2) Except with respect to a partner or member electing under § 102.075, members of partnerships or limited liability companies shall not be counted as employees. Except as provided in § 102.07 (5)(a), a person under contract of hire for the performance of any service for any employer subject to this section is not the employer of any other person with respect to that service, and that other person shall, with respect to that service, be an employee only of the employer for whom the service is being performed.
102.04(2m)
(2m) A temporary help agency is the employer of an employee whom the temporary help agency has placed with or leased to another employer that compensates the temporary help agency for the employee’s services. A temporary help agency is liable under § 102.03 for all compensation and other payments payable under this chapter to or with respect to that employee, including any payments required under § 102.16 (3), 102.18 (1) (b) or (bp), 102.22 (1), 102.35 (3), 102.57, or 102.60. Except as permitted under § 102.29, a temporary help agency may not seek or receive reimbursement from another employer for any payments made as a result of that liability.
102.04(3)
(3) As used in this chapter “farming” means the operation of farm premises owned or rented by the operator. “Farm premises” means areas used for operations herein set forth, but does not include other areas, greenhouses or other similar structures unless used principally for the production of food and farm plants. “Farmer” means any person engaged in farming as defined. Operation of farm premises shall be deemed to be the planting and cultivating of the soil thereof; the raising and harvesting of agricultural, horticultural or arboricultural crops thereon; the raising, breeding, tending, training and management of livestock, bees, poultry, fur-bearing animals, wildlife or aquatic life, or their products, thereon; the processing, drying, packing, packaging, freezing, grading, storing, delivering to storage, to market or to a carrier for transportation to market, distributing directly to consumers or marketing any of the above-named commodities, substantially all of which have been planted or produced thereon; the clearing of such premises and the salvaging of timber and management and use of wood lots thereon, but not including logging, lumbering or wood cutting operations unless conducted as an accessory to other farming operations; the managing, conserving, improving and maintaining of such premises or the tools, equipment and improvements thereon and the exchange of labor, services or the exchange of use of equipment with other farmers in pursuing such activities. The operation for not to exceed 30 days during any calendar year, by any person deriving the person’s principal income from farming, of farm machinery in performing farming services for other farmers for a consideration other than exchange of labor shall be deemed farming. Operation of such premises shall be deemed to include also any other activities commonly considered to be farming whether conducted on or off such premises by the farm operator.