Louisiana: Parish Sheriff’s Office May Not Be Sued by Prisoner Injured While on Work Release

A Louisiana parish sheriff’s office that administered a work release program, pursuant to which a prisoner worked for the parish “police jury” as a “hopper” on a garbage truck, was not the prisoner’s employer and did not owe a duty of providing a safe working environment in spite of the fact that the sheriff’s office assisted in securing work assignments and received the prisoner’s wages through the inmate banking system, held a Louisiana appellate court. Accordingly, the sheriff’s office could not be sued in tort when the prisoner sustained injuries when he fell, while jumping from the rear of one of the garbage trucks.

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.

See Thomas v. Morehouse Parish Waste Mgmt., 2016 La. App. LEXIS 682 (April 13, 2016)

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 64.03.

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

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