Friendship-Based Employment Can Fall Within Scope of Comp System

The Alaska Supreme Court ruled that employment based on friendship does not automatically fall outside the scope of the state workers’ compensation law. Samuel Amos, David Tidwell and Travis Plambeck all lived in the Fairbanks-North Pole area for years. Plambeck and his wife own and operate a flooring company. Tidwell worked for the company for about nine months beginning in June 2019. Before Tidwell worked for Plambeck, he and his wife operated a contracting business. Tidwell claimed he stopped operating the business in “2016-ish” but continued to do “side ...