Massachusetts: “Alternative Employer Endorsement” in Staffing Company’s Policy Provides Immunity Protection for Special Employer Sued by Injured Worker

An “alternate employer endorsement” written into the workers’ compensation insurance policy maintained by an employment staffing company that named the defendant special employer as an additional insured satisfied the requirements of Mass. Gen. Laws c. 152, §§ 15 and 18, such that the special employer was immune from common-law liability under the Workers’ Compensation Act while an employee was providing services to the special employer on assignment from the general employer and who had been paid workers’ compensation benefits by the general employer’s insurer. Citing Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, the court stressed that to be eligible for the limited immunity from suit provided by the Act, a defendant must satisfy a two-part test: (1) the employer must be an insured person liable for the payment of workers’ compensation benefits to the injured employee, and (2) the employer must be the direct employer of the employee.” Because the special employer controlled the activity of the worker there was no issue as to the second factor. As to the first factor, under § 18, where the general and special employers specifically agreed that the general employer would provide workers’ compensation coverage, the special employer could still be considered the employer for exclusive remedy purposes. The defendant met both parts of the test and was immune from suit.

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 Molina v. State Garden, Inc., 2015 Mass. App. LEXIS 128 (Sept. 3, 2015) [2015 Mass. App. LEXIS 128 (Sept. 3, 2015)]

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

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