Subcontractor Which Supervised Plaintiff’s Work Was An Agent for the General Contractor

The Second Department determined a subcontractor which assumed a supervisory role over plaintiff’s work was liable under Labor Law 240(1) as an agent of the general contractor:

To hold a defendant liable as an agent of the general contractor for violations of Labor Law §§ 240(1) and 241(6), there must be a showing that it had the authority to supervise and control the work … . “The determinative factor is whether the party had the right to exercise control over the work, not whether it actually exercised that right” … . Where the owner or general contractor does in fact delegate the duty to conform to the requirements of the Labor Law to a third-party subcontractor, the subcontractor becomes the statutory agent of the owner or general contractor … . Van Blerkom v America Painting LLC, 2014 NY Slip Op 05858, 2nd Dept 8-20-14