Virginia Polytechnic & State University v. Frye

Opinion

COLEMAN, J.

— In this workers’ compensation appeal, we consider the existence and the extent of the “labor broker exception” to the special employer rule. Whether a labor broker exception exists and applies will determine which of two employers is responsible under the Workers’ Compensation Act for payment of death benefits on behalf of the claimants’ decedent. Frye successfully argued before the commission that Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (hereafter VPI) was the special employer of the decedent. VPI urges that because the decedent was only its temporary worker…