Georgia: Parent’s Wrongful Death Action for Negligent Hiring of Convicted Felon May Proceed

Where an employee was shot and killed by a co-employee on the special employer’s premises for no apparent reason—the two hardly knew each other and had no difficulties with each at work—the death did not arise out of and in the course of the employment. Accordingly, the exclusive remedy provisions of the Georgia Workers’ Compensation Act did not bar a mother’s wrongful death action against the special employer and another firm that provided temporary workers. Noting that the murderer had used an alias to obtain employment, that evidence also suggested that the photo on his fake ID did not resemble his actual appearance, and that a criminal background check on the alias did not disclose that the murderer was in fact a convicted felon, the Court held that under the alleged facts, the mother had stated a claim against both the special employer and the employment agency.

Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter, is the co-author of Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law (LexisNexis).

LexisNexis Online Subscribers: Citations below link to Lexis Advance. Bracketed citations link to lexis.com.

See Sturgess v. OA Logistics Servs., Inc., 2016 Ga. App. LEXIS 67 (Feb. 15, 2016) [2016 Ga. App. LEXIS 67 (Feb. 15, 2016)]

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, §§ 103.07, 104.05 [103.07, 104.05]

For a more detailed discussion of the case, see http://www.workcompwriter.com/georgia-mother-may-sue-deceased-sons-employer-and-staffing-company-where-co-worker-murderer-may-have-been-negligently-hired/#more–1325

Source: Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, the nation’s leading authority on workers’ compensation law.

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