After the plaintiff in a recent Kings County lawsuit, Torres v. St. Francis College, was injured after falling from a ladder while using a rag to clean a backboard in a St. Francis College gymnasium, he filed suit under Labor Law §240(1), which requires that owners and contractors provide workers with safety devices when those workers are exposed to elevation-related risks while, among other things, cleaning a building or structure. Here, however, his case was anything but a slam dunk.
According to the Second Department, the Kings County Supreme Court was correct when it granted St. Francis College’s motion for summary judgment. While the statute clearly refers to “cleaning,” the court examined a number of factors to determine whether the cleaning constituted cleaning for Labor Law purposes. Those factors included whether the job: 1) was a recurring one as a part of the ordinary maintenance and care of the premises; 2) required no specialized equipment or expertise, or the unusual deployment of labor; (3) involved an insignificant elevation risk that was typical in domestic or household cleaning; and (4) was unrelated to an ongoing construction, renovation, painting, alteration or repair project.
After ignoring the “insignificant elevation” factor, the court held that the backboard cleaning was not a Labor Law cleaning. The court reasoned that the backboard cleaning was nothing more than routine maintenance which had been performed throughout the basketball season. It also required no special equipment, and was not related to an ongoing construction project.
Plaintiffs will almost always file a Labor Law §240(1) claim when they are injured after falling off a ladder. But Torres shows that not every elevation-related injury is covered by the statute and not all cleaning is cleaning. That said, owners should always ensure that its safety devices are safe and in working order. Many courts may have placed a greater emphasis on the height factor. Please email with any questions. Thanks to Mike Gauvin for his contribution.