The Colorado Supreme Court recently ruled on a case that debated whether a worker who resided in Colorado but worked for an employer who operated in another state could receive workers’ compensation from Colorado.

Travis Miner lived in Colorado but heard of a job in North Dakota working on oil rigs for Youngquist Brothers Oil & Gas, Inc. He was hired and Youngquist flew him to North Dakota, on his employment paperwork he named his residence as Grand Junction, Colorado. He was injured his second day on the job and reported his injury on December 29^th, four days after the injury occurred. Youngquist notified their insurer, North Dakota Workplace Safety and Insurance of the injury, and they denied Mr. Miner’s claim because he had a pre-existing back injury. He did not appeal that denial and instead sought benefits in Colorado.

The administrative law judge in Colorado awarded him benefits based on the fact that he had been hired in Colorado and had been injured within six months of leaving Colorado, making his claim subject to the Workers’ Compensation Act of Colorado. This Act also mandated that Youngquist carry workers’ comp for Colorado, and the ALJ struck them with a 50 percent penalty. Youngquist appealed this on the grounds that Colorado lacked personal jurisdiction on the case but the Court of Appeals upheld the ALJ’s decision. The case then went to the Supreme Court of Colorado.

The court determined that Mr. Miner was not subject to the Workers’ Compensation Act of Colorado, the state had no personal jurisdiction over his employer. The company hired Mr. Miner over the phone and emailed him a plane ticket, which the court decided was not enough to establish that they had been “conducting business” inside of Colorado. The company did not actively recruit in Colorado, rather Mr. Miner found out about the job through the recommendation of a friend. The decision from the lower courts was overturned.

Read more about the case here.