Page 330

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 40. Labor Page 330 C. Professional employer agreement requirements. Each professional employer agreement shall include, at a minimum, the following: 1. The PEO shall reserve a right of direction and control over the covered employees; provided, that the client may retain the right to exercise such direction and control over covered employees as is necessary to conduct the client’s business, to discharge any fiduciary responsibility which it may have, or to comply with any applicable licensure requirements; 2. The PEO shall have responsibility to pay wages and salaries to covered employees; to withhold, collect, report, and remit payroll-related and unemployment taxes; and, to the extent the PEO has assumed responsibility in the professional employer agreement, to make payments for employee benefits for covered employees; 3. Both the PEO and the client shall retain authority to hire, terminate, and discipline the covered employees; and 4. The responsibility to obtain workers’ compensation coverage for covered employees, from a carrier licensed to do business in this state and otherwise in compliance with all applicable requirements, shall be specifically allocated to either the client or the PEO. If such responsibility is allocated to the PEO under any such agreement, such agreement shall require that the PEO maintain and provide to the client, at the termination of the agreement if requested by the client, records regarding the premium and loss experience related to workers’ compensation insurance provided to covered employees pursuant to such agreement. D. Notice to covered employees. With respect to each professional employer agreement entered into by a PEO, such PEO shall provide written notice to each covered employee affected by such agreement of the general nature of the coemployment relationship between and among the PEO, the client, and such covered employee. E. Workers’ compensation. Both client and the PEO shall be considered the employer for the purpose of coverage under the Workers’ Compensation Act and both the PEO and its client shall be entitled to protection of the exclusive remedy provision of the Workers’ Compensation Act irrespective of which coemployer obtains such workers’ compensation coverage. F. Benefit plans. 1. A client and a PEO shall each be deemed an employer for purposes of sponsoring retirement and welfare benefit plans for its covered employees. 2. A welfare benefit plan offered to the covered employees of a single PEO shall not be considered a multiple employer welfare arrangement, or MEWA, as provided for in Section 633 of Title 36 of the Oklahoma Statutes, and shall be exempt from the licensing