Antonio Ramirez v. Garay's Roofing, LLC

Kelly Enterprises, Inc. (Kelly) appeals the decision of the Kansas Workers Compensation Appeals Board that Kelly was liable for the workers'-compensation benefits of an employee of a contractor it had hired. Kansas law provides this statutory liability as an employer when a party, acting as the principal, hires someone else by contract to perform "the whole or any part of the work undertaken by the principal." K.S.A. 44-503(a).

Kelly argues that it isn't responsible under this statute, but the evidence showed that Kelly regularly builds apartment buildings that it then manages and that it acts…