Kentucky Workers' Compensation case

A unanimous Kentucky Supreme Court ruling last week open the door—or at least clarified – portions of workers’ compensation law dealing with which cases fall under exemption and which can be considered in courts.

An article in this morning’s Kentucky Courier Journal says “the law – intended to discourage companies from subcontracting regular work in an effort to avoid paying workers’ comp premiums—provides that a company is still responsible for subcontracted employees even when it farms out ‘regular or recurrent work’ to other businesses. It exempts companies from lawsuits filed by employees covered by their workers’ compensation insurance.”

“With the standard open to many interpretations,” the article relates, “the court has offered clarification: ‘Stated simply, (the law) refers to work that is customary, usual, normal or performed repeatedly, and that the company, or a similar business, would perform or be expected to perform with employees.’”