A borrowing employer of a borrowed employee is treated as the employee’s employer under the Longshore & Harbor Workers Compensation Act and so is not liable in tort for the employee’s on-job injuries. 33 U.S.C. 905(a). Instead, the employee’s sole recourse is to benefits under the LHWCA. Here, the plaintiff, an injured employee, was directly employed by Tradesman, which supplied temporary workers like plaintiff, to Nassco for shipbuilding work. The tradesman was plaintiff’s primary employer; Nassco was her borrowing employer. So Nassco was immune from tort liability for injuries plaintiff suffered on the job.
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (Bybee, J.); December 19, 2018; 910 F.3d 1263