Opinion ID: 1767316
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: facts

Text: The Employee, Lisa Madden (Madden), is a resident of Macon County, Tennessee. The Employer, The Holland Group of Tennessee (Holland), has its corporate office in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and has branch offices in eight other states, including Kentucky. Holland's business involves providing temporary employees to other companies. In September of 2004, Madden telephoned the Holland office in Scottsville, Kentucky, from her home in Macon County, Tennessee, seeking a job at the J.M. Smucker plant. After being informed that Holland was accepting applications, Madden traveled to Scottsville, Kentucky, from Tennessee, completed an application, and interviewed with Katherine Marsh (Marsh), the division manager at the Scottsville office. Because J.M. Smucker did not have a position available, Marsh offered Madden a position at the Sumitomo plant, also located in Kentucky. At this juncture, there was a dispute about the substance of the conversation between Marsh and Madden. Marsh testified that she told Madden the location of the Sumitomo plant, the hours and the pay; Marsh added that she made ... the job offer and Madden accepted it. Marsh testified that she had no recollection of Madden saying that she wanted to talk to her husband before accepting the job. Marsh testified that she phoned Madden later that day and told her that orientation at Sumitomo was the next day. Madden disagreed and testified that she did not accept the position with Sumitomo while in Kentucky and that she told Marsh she wanted to talk to her husband before accepting the job. She testified that she returned home, talked with her husband, and then accepted the position by telephone from her home in Tennessee. Thereafter, on September 14, 2004, Madden reported to work as instructed. Madden worked for Holland at the Sumitomo plant for approximately three weeks before being placed by Holland at the J.M. Smucker plant in early October of 2004. On October 10, 2004, Madden injured her right wrist while working at Smucker's. According to the undisputed evidence, Madden never worked for Holland outside of Kentucky and was never required to go to Holland's corporate office in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Although Holland's Scottsville office frequently hires Tennesseans, none of their employees work in Tennessee. As division manager, Marsh interviews, hires, and fires employees without checking with any superiors at the corporate office in Tennessee. The corporate office does, however, formulate the policies and procedures applicable to all Holland employees in the several states where they have local offices, including Kentucky; moreover, at the time Madden suffered her injury, the corporate office generated and issued all the employees' pay checks in the several states. Madden filed a claim for workers' compensation benefits in the Circuit Court for Macon County, Tennessee, seeking to recover benefits for the work-related injury she sustained on October 10, 2004, in Scottsville, Kentucky. Holland then filed a motion to dismiss contending the trial court did not have jurisdiction over the subject matter because Madden was hired in Kentucky and worked in Kentucky for a Kentucky employer and because there was no substantial connection between Tennessee and the employer-employee relationship. After a hearing, the trial court found that Madden's contract of hire was not made in Tennessee, and there was not a substantial connection between Tennessee and the employer-employee relationship. See Tenn.Code Ann. § 50-6-115. Accordingly, the trial court dismissed the complaint and on appeal, a majority of the Special Workers' Compensation Appeals Panel affirmed. We granted Madden's motion for review.