Informal hire’s fatal fall costs construction firm $2.65 million coverage

Stone Development Group (SDG) was a carpentry subcontractor on a hotel build in Waukegan, Illinois. Its vice president needed extra carpenters and texted a worker he knew, offering $32.50 an hour. He asked if the worker knew “any other rough framing guys looking for work.” The worker said he would bring a fellow carpenter to the site. 

The vice president planned to interview the new carpenter that morning. Running late on September 19, 2017, he texted the co-worker to start without him – but gave no safety instructions and did not tell the foreman to hold anyone back. 

The two carpenters arrived at 7:00 a.m. The foreman directed them to the third floor. To get tools up, they used a forklift with a plywood box. The new carpenter climbed onto the box from a third-floor window. It tipped. He fell more than 20 feet. He died six days later. 

Then came the paper trail. The vice president had the co-worker complete an SDG accident report listing the deceased as the “employee injured,” plus a W-4 and workers’ comp forms. He sent OSHA a list of site employees that included the deceased, telling the investigator the worker was “hired by [him] to perform work at the site.” 

His story changed after the insurer denied coverage. At trial, he denied hiring the carpenter, calling him “a prospective employee.”