An employee was employed in a bakery in a full-time capacity. The registered owner of the bakery with the various authorities and the bank account served as his formal employer, while the uncle of the registered owner actually managed the bakery, hired the employee and agreed upon the wage terms with him. After the employment relations between the parties ended, the employee demanded from the registered owner payment of various social rights for his employment period.
The Court held that the employee is entitled to various social rights and that the registered owner served as his joint employer together with the actual manager. Generally, the identity of the employer is determined based on a substantive examination of the totality of the engagement's characteristics, and when two entities fulfill different essential functions of the employer, economic and operational, they can be viewed as joint employers and one should not rely solely on the internal division of roles between them. Here, although the uncle managed the day-to-day work and agreed upon the wage terms, the registered owner remained registered as the owner with all authorities, the business's bank account and checks bore his name, and he even visited the bakery to handle exceptional managerial events. Therefore, the two acted as joint employers and the registered owner was held personally liable for the payment of the employee's rights.