United States: Detention Officer's Tort Claim Alleging Unsafe Work Conditions Due to COVID-19 Held Barred

Allegations by a former prison detention officer that his former employer was liable in tort for negligent supervision and intentional infliction of emotional distress (IIED) were dismissed by a federal district court sitting in California. The plaintiff contended in relevant part that conditions at the prison were so dangerous, due to the threat of infection from COVID-19, that he had been constructively discharged from his position. The district court disagreed, finding that the conduct alleged to have been undertaken by the former employer was not outside the normal workers' compensation bargain. Accordingly, the negligent supervision and IIED causes of action were dismissed because they were barred by the exclusive remedy provisions of the California Workers' Compensation Act.

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

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See Arnold v. Corecivic of Tenn., LLC, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2868 (S.D., Cal. Jan. 6, 2021)

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

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

For a more detailed discussion of the case, see

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