Holmgren

As expressly authorized by its charter and by section 31000 of the Government Code, the County of Los Angeles outsourced engineering work to two firms which over the course of many years provided engineers to perform specified work for the county. The engineers were employees of the contracting firms and paid by the contracting firms, and all signed written acknowledgements that they were not employees of the county and not entitled to any of the benefits available to county employees. Three of these engineers nevertheless filed this class action against the county, contending they were the county’s “common law employees” and, as such, entitled to civil service and retirement benefits under the county’s retirement plan. The trial court disagreed and so do we.

FACTS

A.

In 1989, the county entered into “Master Agreements” with MiniSystems Associates and TAD Resources International, Inc. (the contractors), pursuant to which the county agreed to (and did) solicit bids from the contractors for specific work to be accomplished by telecommunications engineers and support staff for a specific period of time. In response, the contractors agreed to (and did) bid specific…