Pennsylvania: Restaurant Franchisor Not Responsible for Comp Benefits of Uninsured Franchisee’s Injured Worker

As is the situation in many other states, where a Pennsylvania firm subcontracts a regular or recurrent part of its business to another, the firm is liable for workers’ compensation benefits to the subcontractor’s employees if that subcontractor is uninsured [see 77 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 461]. Applying that rule, a Pennsylvania appellate court ruled that a restaurant franchisor’s main business was the sale of franchises to buyers desiring to use its name and expertise—not the actual operation of restaurants—and that accordingly the franchisor was not responsible for the injuries sustained by the franchisee’s employee where the franchisee was uninsured. The benefits were the responsibility of the state’s Uninsured Employers Guaranty Fund.

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 Saladworks, LLC v. Workers Comp. Appeal Bd. (Gaudioso), 2015 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 427 (Oct. 6, 2015) [2015 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 427 (Oct. 6, 2015)]

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 111.04 [111.04]

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