Alabama: Former Employee’s Civil Action Alleging Assault and Battery Barred by Exclusivity

A trial court should have dismissed a former employee’s assault and battery and tort-of-outrage claims against the former employer because they were barred by the exclusive remedy provisions of the Alabama Workers’ Compensation Act, held the Supreme Court of Alabama. The Court noted that plaintiff’s injuries arose out of her employment, that the assault incident was precipitated by the plaintiff’s employment-related actions and that it occurred while plaintiff was still present on the employer’s premises. Moreover, the altercation concerned possession of certain documents belonging to the employer. The Court added that the fact that the plaintiff had resigned her position immediately before the alleged assault and battery did not alter the analysis.

Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter, is the co-author of Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law (LexisNexis).

LexisNexis Online Subscribers: Citations below link to Lexis Advance.

See Martin v. Lincare Inc., 2016 Ala. LEXIS 94 (Aug. 19, 2016)

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 100.03.

Source: Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, the nation’s leading authority on workers’ compensation law