Indiana: Temporary Worker’s Tort Suit Against Employer To Whom He or She is Assigned Held Barred

Citing earlier precedent from the state’s Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals of Indiana held that for purposes of the Workers’ Compensation Act a “leased” or temporary employee is generally considered the joint employee of both the “lessor” and “lessee,” [see Ind. Code § 22-3-6-1(a)].  Accordingly, the court was not required to examine the “seven-factor” test established in GKN Co. v. Magness, 744 N.E.2d 397, 402 (Ind. 2001) to determine whether there was sufficient evidence of direct control by either lessor or lessee.  An employee’s exclusive remedy against both the employer (the leasing company) and the company to whom he or she was leased is the Workers’ Compensation Act.  Such treatment eliminates the potential for disparate treatment between a permanent employee and a temporary employee who do the same job and suffer the same injuries in an accident, indicated the court.

Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter, is a leading commentator and expert on the law of workers’ compensation.

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

See Frontz v. Middletown Enters., Inc., 2014 Ind. App. LEXIS 417 (Aug. 26, 2014) [2014 Ind. App. LEXIS 417 (Aug. 26, 2014)]

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 68.01, 111.01 [68.01, 111.01]

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

For more information about LexisNexis products and solutions connect with us through our corporate site