A century-old Utah legal precedent protecting workers from employer liability waivers may no longer extend beyond the workplace.
In a March 26 decision stemming from a 2020 Deer Valley Resort accident, the Utah Supreme Court ruled that employers can rely on liability waivers when injuries happen outside an employee’s job duties, even if they occur on resort property.
The decision stems from a snowmobile crash involving two former lift operators at Deer Valley who had returned to the ski area after being laid off in March 2020. The court found that because their injuries were not work-related, the waiver they signed as employees could still apply.
William Olson and Lark Pyper had worked as lift operators during the 2019-20 winter season. That season ended abruptly as the COVID-19 pandemic forced resort closures across Utah, and Olson and Pyper were laid off on March 15, 2020.
Two days later, they returned to Deer Valley to turn in their uniforms and went to join a gathering of coworkers celebrating the end of the season on the mountain. A supervisor still on duty offered them a ride on a company snowmobile to reach it when they crashed.
Like other seasonal employees, Olson and Pyper were required to sign a liability waiver releasing Deer Valley from responsibility for injuries sustained during a wide range of activities on resort property. The waiver applied both on and off duty, but the court’s ruling determines when Deer Valley can actually enforce it.
In a rule dating back to a 1907 case, Utah courts have held that employers can’t use those waivers to avoid responsibility when employees are injured on the job. In this case, the Supreme Court said that protection applies only to work-related injuries, meaning Deer Valley may still rely on the waiver if the injuries happened outside the employees’ job duties.
Olson and Pyper later sued Deer Valley for the injuries they sustained in the crash. They argued the resort should be held responsible for their injuries.
Deer Valley was liable because the crash was caused by one of its employees acting within his job duties, they argued. But in its decision, the court found there was no evidence the supervisor was acting within the scope of his job when he gave the ride.
“Throughout the deposition, the employee consistently maintained that he gave the Plaintiffs a ride because they were friends and he ‘just wanted to help them out,’” the Supreme Court ruling states.
The supervisor also acknowledged the ride violated resort policy and amounted to leaving his job duties. Without a clear connection to Deer Valley’s business interests, the court concluded the resort could not be held liable.
However, Olson and Pyper also argued Deer Valley itself was negligent in how it hired, trained and supervised the employee, raising the question of whether the waiver they signed prevents them from suing the resort directly for negligence.
The lower court had relied on Pugmire v. Oregon Short Line Railroad Co., the 1907 Utah case that broadly held employers cannot require workers to waive liability for injuries caused by employer negligence.
Rather than applying Pugmire broadly, the justices concluded it must be “confined to its facts,” limiting its reach to injuries that occur in the course of employment.
“Thus, we do not extend Pugmire to the circumstances here, where two former employees were injured outside of work,” the Supreme Court ruling states.
Because Olson and Pyper had already been laid off and were on the mountain for personal reasons, the court determined their injuries were not work-related, and as a result, the rule limiting employer waivers didn’t apply.
This ruling sends the case back to the Third District Court for further review, including questions about how the waiver applies.