Keith King v. Dayco Incorporated

Summary

The Tennessee Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment for Dayco Incorporated in a negligence action brought by Keith King, a temporary staffing agency employee injured while working at Dayco. The court held that King was a borrowed or loaned employee of Dayco under Tennessee’s workers’ compensation law because the undisputed facts established an implied contract for hire, that his work was essentially Dayco’s work, and that Dayco controlled the details of his work. As a co-employee or special employer, Dayco was protected by the workers’ compensation exclusive-remedy provision.

Holdings

1. Contractual provisions characterizing a temporary worker as an independent contractor or disclaiming an employment relationship do not control whether the Tennessee Workers' Compensation Law applies; the court must evaluate the actual circumstances of the work.
2. An employee of a temporary staffing agency is also an employee of the client to which the employee is assigned for Tennessee workers' compensation purposes when the borrowed-servant test is satisfied.
3. Because King was Dayco's co-employee and special employer at the time of his injury, the Tennessee Workers' Compensation Law's exclusive-remedy provision barred his negligence claim against Dayco.

Questions Presented

1. Whether King was an employee of Dayco under the Tennessee Workers' Compensation Law despite the staffing agreement's provision disclaiming an employer-employee relationship.
2. Whether King's negligence claim against Dayco was barred by the Tennessee Workers' Compensation Law's exclusive-remedy provision.
3. Whether the trial court properly granted summary judgment based on undisputed facts that King failed to controvert.

Disposition

affirmed