Borrowed-Servant Doctrine Barred Death Claim by Temp Worker's Estate

The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania on Monday ruled that the civil immunity afforded to an employer by the Workers' Compensation Act can extend to cover multiple employers, reasserting the state's borrowed-servant doctrine in a case involving a temporary worker who was killed while on assignment. In Nagle v. TrueBlue, the court said immunity covered the borrowing employer of a temporary worker as well as the staffing agency that actually employed him. Douglas Bell filled out an application for employment with Labor Ready, a temporary staffing agency, in December 2009. He acknowled...