§ 916. Definitions. As used in this article:

1. "Client" means a person who enters into a professional employer
agreement with a professional employer organization.

2. "Person" means an individual, an association, a company, a firm, a
partnership, a corporation, or any other form of legally recognized
entity.

3. "Professional employer agreement" means a written contract whereby:

(a) A professional employer organization expressly agrees to co-employ
all or a majority of the employees providing services for the client;

(b) The contract is intended to be on-going rather than temporary in
nature;

(c) Employer responsibilities for worksite employees, including those
of hiring, firing and disciplining, are expressly allocated by and
between the professional employer organization and the client in the
agreement; and

(d) The professional employer organization expressly assumes the
rights and responsibilities as required in section nine hundred
twenty-two of this article.

4. "Professional employer organization" means any person whose
business is entering into professional employer agreements with clients.
In determining whether the professional employer organization employs
all or a majority of the employees of a client, any person employed
pursuant to the terms of the professional employer agreement after the
initial placement of client employees on the payroll of the professional
employer organization shall be included. Temporary help firms and
employment agencies, as defined in article eleven of the general
business law, shall not be deemed to be professional employer
organizations for purposes of this article.

5. "Temporary help firm" means a business which recruits and hires its
own employees, and assigns those employees to perform work at or
services for other organizations, to support or supplement the other
organization's workforce, or to provide assistance in special work
situations such as, but not limited to, employee absences, skill
shortages, seasonal workloads, or to perform special assignments or
projects. A temporary help firm shall not be deemed to be a professional
employer organization for the purposes of this article.

6. "Worksite employee" means a person having an employment
relationship with both the professional employer organization and the
client. Such term may also include the client's officers, directors,
shareholders or partners to the extent such persons act as operational
managers or perform services for the client.