Arizona Social Worker Employed At Prison May Not Sue State for Slip and Fall Injuries

Where the State of Arizona, through its Department of Corrections, had an ongoing duty to insure that inmates received adequate health services and it contracted with an employment services provider to supply health care professionals to provide such services, retaining the right to control or supervise the work provided by an employment services provider, the Department of Corrections was the statutory employer of those health care professionals working in the state prisons. Accordingly, when a clinical social worker slipped and fell on an unmarked wet floor and sustained injuries, her exclusive remedy was to recover workers’ compensation benefits. She could not maintain a negligence action against the State of Arizona [Wagner v. State, 2017 Ariz. App. LEXIS 77 (Apr. 20, 2017)].