American Staffing Association (02/02/12) Stephen Dwyer

The Texas Supreme Court issued an important ruling on Jan. 27 preserving workers’ compensation protection for staffing firm clients in Texas. The American Staffing Association and the Texas Association of Staffing, an ASA-affiliated chapter, filed an amicus brief in the case.

At issue was whether a client’s workers’ compensation policy protected the client from a wrongful death lawsuit after a temporary employee assigned by a staffing firm was killed on assignment in a grain silo. The Supreme Court held that, under Texas law, an employer’s workers’ compensation policy cannot cover some employees but not others. Because the client had secured a policy covering its employees, and because it was uncontested that the employee was jointly employed by the client and the staffing firm, the court found that the temporary employee was covered and thus dismissed the lawsuit.