Cedillo

I. Introduction

Jaime Rodriguez was injured on July 10, 1995, while working on the roof of the home of Raul Reyes. Felipe Lauro Cedillo, an illegally unlicensed and uninsured roofing contractor, doing business as Better Roofing, filed a petition seeking review of a decision of the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board (the board) in favor of Mr. Rodriguez. The board held that Mr. Reyes, the homeowner, was not the employer of Mr. Rodriguez. Rather, the board concluded that Mr. Cedillo, the roofing contractor, was the employer of Mr. Rodriguez. The board directed the Director of Industrial Relations (the director), as the administrator for the Uninsured Employers Fund, to pay benefits to Mr. Rodriguez if the unlicensed contractor, Mr. Cedillo, did not. The director, on Mr. Cedillo’s behalf, challenges the board’s decision. We deny the petition.

II. Background

Mr. Reyes lived across the street from Mr. Cedillo. Mr. Reyes’s roof needed repairing. So Mr. Reyes hired Mr. Cedillo to repair the roof. Mr. Cedillo in turn hired Mr. Rodriguez to repair Mr. Reyes’s roof. Mr. Rodriguez began working for Mr. Cedillo in June 1995. Mr. Rodriguez worked three to four days a week and was…