Mass. High Court Says Comp Law Allows Workers to Sue General Contractor

BOSTON - An injured employee of an uninsured subcontractor can bring common law claims against the project's general contractor despite the general contractor's statutory duty to provide the worker with workers' compensation coverage in such circumstances, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has ruled. Wentworth v. Henry C. Becker Custom Building Ltd., No. SJC-10806 (Mass. Sup. Jud. Ct.).

The high court held May 23 that the workers' compensation scheme's statutory bar to recovery outside the workers' compensation system applies only to direct employees, and the court vacated a trial court's award of summary judgment to the general contractor.

This case arose …