Opinion ID: 2617609
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Rejecting officers' claims against co-employees

Text: We now consider the effect that an officer's rejection of coverage has on employees who remain within the workers' compensation scheme. Though no statutory provision expressly addresses co-employee liability under the Act, we have interpreted the Act to preclude actions between co-employees. Kandt v. Evans, 645 P.2d 1300, 1304-05 (Colo.1982); see also Popovich v. Irlando, 811 P.2d 379 (Colo.1991). We adopted the doctrine of co-employee immunity in Kandt, where we stated that the premise of reciprocity underlying the Act supported our decision that covered employees were immune from actions brought by co-employees. There, we reasoned that [o]ne of the things [a co-employee] is entitled to expect in return for what he has given up is freedom from common-law suits based on industrial accidents in which he is at fault. Kandt, 645 P.2d at 1305; see also Arthur Larson, 2A Larson's Workmen's Compensation Law § 72.21 (1994) (explaining [t]he great majority of states and the Longshoremen's Act now exclude co-employees from the category of `third persons[ ]' who can be sued outside of workmens' compensation legislation). We agree with the court of appeals that it would be unjust to burden a co-employee with liability based on an officer's election to reject coverage under the Act when the co-employee is covered by the Act, and his or her exclusive remedy for any work-related injuries is dictated by the Act. We hold, therefore, that co-employees are immune from common law actions brought by an officer who has rejected coverage under the Act. Our decision to insulate co-employees from common law actions is based on the status of the defendant co-employee, and not on that of the rejecting officer. It makes no difference whether the employee bringing the action is covered by the Act or has rejected coverage, provided the co-employee's exclusive remedies are found in the Act. To decide otherwise would require us to elevate the interests of the rejecting officer over those of a co-employee who has no knowledge or control over the rejecting officer's decision, and moreover, receives no benefit from the rejection of coverage. Because the doctrine of co-employee immunity focuses on the status of the covered employee, we now turn to the related question of the extent to which a rejecting officer is removed from the provisions of the Act.