The term “indirect employer” when used in labour law literature usually refers to the usage of work performed by persons formally employed by a third party. In such a situation, employee seems to have the direct (formal) employer and the indirect one who appropriates the results of the work done without entering into an employment relationship. Pope John Paul II in the encyclical Laborem Exercens uses the notion of the indirect employer in a somewhat different meaning. The Pope refers rather to the sphere of politics and the ability to shape the statutory labour law or the actual working (living) standards for the entire society. The article explains the concept of the indirect employer as it was used in the encyclical and indicates the ideas that are behind it. The article also attempts to show the usefulness of the John Paul II’s concept of the indirect employer in considering issues related to the transnational corporations and labour law.