ANESTHETIST WAS
HOSPITAL’S EMPLOYEE, NOT AN INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR
|
Workers
Compensation |
Provider
Agreement |
|
Writ of
Certiorari |
Staffing
Agreement |
Mildred H. Shatto was a certified nurse anesthetist and had been one
for many years, including employment at a Pennsylvania hospital for 21 years.
She moved to South Carolina to care for a family member and, after having held a
few short-term nursing positions, entered into an employment arrangement with
Staff Care, Inc. (Staff Care). Through this arrangement, Shatto
became a nurse anesthetist for McLeod Regional Medical Center (McLeod) in
Florence, South Carolina. However, McLeod did not directly employ her. Shatto had a Provider Agreement with Staff Care and Staff
Care had a Staffing Agreement with McLeod.
Shatto fell and sustained injuries on
December 21, 2007 while helping anesthetize a patient in an operating room.
McLeod treated her and released her shortly afterwards. Shatto
brought claims for her injuries against both Staff Care and McLeod under
workers compensation coverage. Staff Care denied coverage. McLeod initially
treated Shatto as an employee but later changed its
position and denied that there was an employment relationship.
A single
Workers Compensation Commissioner determined that there was an employment
relationship between Shatto and McLeod and the
Commission’s Appellate Panel affirmed that decision. McLeod appealed and the
Appellate Court reversed the Commission’s decision. It determined that Shatto was an independent contractor, not an employee, and
remanded the case back to the Commission to handle her claim against Staff
Care. The Supreme Court of South Carolina granted Shatto’s
petition for a writ of certiorari to review the appellate court’s decision.
Note: A writ of certiorari is an appellate
court order used when a higher court has the authority to decide to hear or not
to hear an appeal. If it denies the writ, the court refuses to hear the appeal
and the judgment essentially stands unchanged. Granting the writ essentially
orders the lower court to certify the record and send the case up to the higher
court that agrees to hear the appeal.
The Supreme
Court of South Carolina noted that determining whether Shatto
was an independent contractor or an employee hinged on the single issue of
control and whether the employer had the right
to control Shatto in the way she performed her work.
Common law prescribed the following four factors to examine the work
relationship:
The court
examined each of these factors in detail. It determined that the method of
payment favored a finding of an independent contractor relationship. Through Shatto’s Provider Agreement with Staff Care, it paid Shatto by direct deposit into her account, provided
per-diem, malpractice insurance coverage, a rental car, and housing while she
worked at McLeod. On the other hand, under Staff Care’s Staffing agreement with
McLeod, McLeod did not provide Shatto any of the
benefits it typically made available to its directly employed workers.
However,
after carefully examining the details of each of the other three factors, the
court determined that they overwhelmingly favored a finding that Shatto was an employee of McLeod. This was because the
preponderance of evidence favored an employer-employee relationship between them.
Shatto had to execute certain documents immediately
after she was assigned to McLeod that acknowledged that she was a temporary
employee. She also received a “new employee packet” that acknowledged her as an
employee at-will. In addition, she reported to a hospital supervisor at the
start of her shift and that supervisor directed her work throughout the shift. McLeod
provided all the equipment Shatto needed to do her
job and had the right to terminate her employment if her work was not satisfactory
or acceptable. All of this led the Supreme Court to rule that the appellate
court erred in reversing the Workers Compensation Commission’s decision. It
reversed the appellate court’s decision, ruled that Shatto
was McLeod’s employee, and remanded the case back to the appellate court to handle
and to address other issues.
Supreme
Court of South Carolina.
Mildred H. Shatto, Petitioner, v. McLeod Regional
Medical Center and Key Risk Management Services, Inc., Respondents, and Staff
Care, Inc. and Travelers Insurance, Defendants. Appellate Case No. 2011–201186.
No. 27341. Heard Oct. 2, 2013.
Decided Dec. 18, 2013. 406 S.C. 470, 753 S.E.2d 416