Alaska Employment Law

In a Memorandum Decision issued today, the Alaska Supreme Court affirmed Anchorage Superior Court Judge Sen Tan’s judgment that a worker was an independent contractor rather than an employee, and not entitled to recover anything as an IC.

On the classification question, the Court held:

The superior court concluded that there was no employment relationship between Tex Doellefeld and appellees Gary Paul Lodoen, Mark Wilson, or Royal Alaska Resorts, LLC. In reaching this conclusion the court correctly applied the approach outlined by this court in Jeffcoat v. State, Department of Labor.The court’s finding that Doellefeld was not an employee of appellees was supported by adequate evidence and is not clearly erroneous.

On the worker’s attempt to recover as a contractor or otherwise, the Court held that he had waived that theory:

Appellant waived his claims as an independent contractor and those based on quasi-contract and unjust enrichment theories by (1) participating in a settlement agreement entered into on November 15, 2002, in which he released a putative property lien and expressly reserved only “his wage and hour claims” for purposes of trial; (2) confirming his intention to preserve only his wage and hour claim at the outset of the trial when the attorney for the appellees stated that the wage and hour claim was the only issue that remained for trial and appellant neither disagreed nor stated that there were any other issues for trial; and (3) submitting written closing arguments and proposed findings and conclusions at the close of trial relating only to his wage and hour claim.

Doellefeld v. Lodoen, 2008 WL _______ (Alaska Oct. 8, 2008)(MOJ)(footnote omitted)

Ken Jacobus represented the worker.  Howard Trickey, of Jermain Dunnagan & Owens, represented one of the defendants.