Opinion ID: 2532289
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Facts Relating to the Employment Relationship

Text: GUBMK is a joint venture composed of three companies. It was formed in 1991 at the instance of TVA in orderas stated in Tennessee Valley Authority and G.UB.MK Constructors Agreement No. 99MJ-232187, [June 28, 1999] (the contract) to partner with TVA for the performance of modifications and supplemental maintenance work at TVA fossil and hydro plants and possibly at other TVA-controlled facilities. According to the contract, GUBMK's principal work [is to] employ and manage all craft labor necessary for the completion of modification and supplemental maintenance work including construction, rehabilitation, modification, removal, replacement, and construction testing of components and/or systems identified by TVA at Fossil and Hydro generating plants and other sites ... within the TVA region. The contract also provided, in pertinent part: GC-3 SCOPE OF WORK INCLUDING SERVICES AND FACILITIES TO BE PROVIDED BY [GUBMK] ... [GUBMK] will perform a variety of functions, including, without limitation, site engineering, project management, inspection and testing services, craft training, administration of subcontractors and TVA's other contractors, and some procurement-related activities. [GUBMK] may also furnish support personnel to provide a wide variety of services to augment TVA's staff. .... GC-5 SERVICES, EQUIPMENT, MATERIALS, AND FACILITIES TO BE PROVIDED BY TVA .... 4. Unless specified to the contrary in a specific Project Authorization, TVA will furnish small tools and equipment and all large construction equipment, including cranes, loaders, large trucks, cherry pickers, hoists, etc., to [GUBMK]. .... GC-9 INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR [GUBMK] represents that it is fully experienced and properly qualified, registered, licensed, equipped, organized, and financed to perform the work under [the contract]. [GUBMK] agrees to act as an independent contractor and not as the agent of TVA, except in the circumstances referred to below, in completing [the contract] and maintaining complete control over its employees and all of its subcontractors.... [GUBMK] shall perform its work hereunder in accordance with its own methods subject to compliance with [the contract]. .... GC-14 QUALIFICATION OF [GUBMK'S] AND SUBCONTRACTORS' PERSONNEL [GUBMK] shall employ only competent, qualified, and trained personnel to perform the work. In accordance with procedures to be mutually agreed upon, [GUBMK] shall remove from the job site any personnel of [GUBMK] determined to be unfit for performance of his or her assigned duties or to be acting or working in violation of job site work rules. .... GC-15 SUPPORT PERSONNEL (CRAFT/STAFF AUGMENTATION) During the life of [the contract] TVA may request, and [GUBMK] agrees to provide when so requested, qualified support personnel in order to perform a broad range of staff augmentation functions such as general construction and field construction engineering services in accordance with criteria, procedures, and scheduling requirements established by TVA. With respect to craft labor, [GUBMK] agrees to provide support craft personnel as requested by TVA and authorized by the Technical Contract Representative. [GUBMK] shall inform all assigned support personnel of and be responsible for compliance with the requirements of the GC-15 and other applicable requirements. TVA will advise [GUBMK]-furnished support personnel of TVA's specific rules, regulations, and safety procedures that will apply to the personnel's specific work activities as determined by TVA. All work activities of [GUBMK]-furnished support personnel shall be performed under the direction, supervision, and control of TVA, and TVA shall be responsible for requests and directions issued by employees of TVA to [GUBMK's] ... employees providing support services to TVA hereunder. However, [GUBMK's] employees providing support services to TVA hereunder shall continue as [GUBMK's] ... employees,... and shall not become employees of TVA. [GUBMK] ..., who is the employer, shall be responsible for the payment of the employees' salaries and wages, payroll taxes, and employee benefits.... .... `[GUBMK]furnished support personnel shall provide support services pursuant to the direction, supervision, and control of TVA. Because [GUBMK's]... support personnel will work under the direct supervision and control of TVA, [GUBMK] does not warrant the quality of the services performed or the results obtained. TVA shall be solely responsible for the acts or omissions of such personnel during the assignment of such personnel to TVA and within the scope of their TVA-assigned duties, provided that nothing herein shall create or confer any rights upon third parties. .... TVA shall have the right to reject any assigned support personnel considered by TVA, at any time, in its sole discretion, not to be acceptable or qualified to perform the assigned work. .... GC-22 INDEMNITY Subject to the provisions of GC-9, [GUBMK] shall be an independent contractor for all purposes of this [contract], and all persons engaged in carrying out any of [GUBMK's] obligations hereunder shall be the servants of [GUBMK] ... and not the servants or agents of TVA. .... GC-49 LABOR AGREEMENTS Included herein as Attachment 10 is the TVA PMMA [Project Maintenance and Modifications Agreement for the Tennessee Valley Authority Including Hourly Rates of Pay and Fringe Benefits for Maintenance and Modifications Work Performed Under Contract] and [as] Attachment 11 is the CPA [Construction Project Agreement (Including Office Construction, Maintenance, and Modification Supplement to the Construction Project Agreement) for the Tennessee Valley Authority Including Hourly Rates of Pay and Fringe Benefits for Construction Work Performed under Contract] (hereinafter collectively `Labor Agreements'). The Labor Agreements, among other things, set out requirements covering the rates of pay, hours of work, and conditions of employment for employees, as the term `employee' is defined in subsection GC-49.1 below, Labor Agreements Provisions. [GUBMK] shall become signatory to the Labor Agreements and shall accept and be bound by the provisions of the Labor Agreements for execution of all work as required for completion of this [contract]. The Labor Agreements contain definitions of the specific work covered. (Emphasis added.) In 2002, Leslie was referred by a labor union to GUBMK for employment at TVA's Widow's Creek Fossil Plant (the plant). GUBMK had payroll offices located on the premises of the plant. At that time, Leslie was hoping eventually to be hired by TVA. On April 22, 2002, Leslie accepted employment by GUBMK as a deck hand (laborer), that is, to be staff augmentation for TVA, pursuant to ¶ GC-15 of the contract. Leslie executed the forms necessary to allow GUBMK to withhold payroll taxes and union dues from his paychecks. GUBMK also gave Leslie a copy of the G.UB.MK Constructors Orientation Manual for Trades and Labor Employees (the manual). The manual, which consist of 26 pages, sets forth policies, processes, procedures and requirements applicable to G.UB.MK work, purporting to vest in GUBMK control over such matters as substance abuse, safety regulations, absenteeism, and time-keeping. Leslie was paid based on a wage scale set forth in the Project Maintenance and Modifications Agreement and the Construction Project Agreement (hereinafter referred to collectively as the labor agreements), to which GUBMK was required by ¶ GC-49 of the contract to become a signatory. He worked exclusively on TVA property, using equipment owned and supplied by TVA. For all the work he performed, Leslie's TVA supervisors kept track of his hours and provided the time sheets to GUBMK, whose employees then calculated his wages. Next, GUBMK would submit those calculations to TVA, which would deposit into GUBMK's bank account the appropriate amount to cover the paycheck. Leslie's paychecks would then be drawn on GUBMK's bank account. TVA provided workers' compensation insurance for Leslie and all such staff-augmentation personnel supplied by GUBMK. On the night of March 16, 2003, Leslie was working with Garner, a regular TVA employee. In the course of performing their assigned duties, Garner was injured. Garner received payments for lost wages and medical expenses from the United States Department of Labor Office of Workers' Compensation Programs. On February 7, 2005, Garner sued GUBMK and Leslie. His complaint as last amended asserted negligence as the single claim for relief. GUBMK and Leslie answered the complaint and asserted as an affirmative defense that Garner's claims were barred by the provisions of the Alabama Workers' Compensation Act ... in that [Garner] and the defendant Eric M. Leslie were co-employees at the time of the accident. Meanwhile, in June 2004, Leslie became employed directly by TVA. The case was tried to a jury in December 2008. At the close of all the evidence, GUBMK and Leslie moved for a judgment as a matter of law (JML) on the ground that the evidence established that TVA was Leslie's special employer for purposes of the application of the Act. The trial court denied their motion and submitted the case to the jury pursuant to a special interrogatory on the employment issue. In its answer to the special interrogatory, the jury found that Leslie was not the special employee of TVA on March 16, 2003, and awarded Garner $525,000. Subsequently, GUBMK and Leslie filed a renewed motion for a JML, which the trial court denied. They then filed this appeal. The sole issue on appeal is whether the trial court erred in declining to hold, as a matter of law, that Leslie was the special employee of TVA at the time of the accident and, therefore, that Garner's action was barred by the exclusivity provisions of the Act.