By Sarah Nagem and Heidi Perez-Moreno
It was a familiar scene along Interstate 95: A construction crew was toiling into the early-morning hours on March 28, 2019, and local law enforcement officers helped guide drivers through the work zone.
James Obershea, then a captain with the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office, and Fairmont Police Chief Jon Edwards decided additional officers were needed to direct traffic at the Robeson County site. Obershea reached out to an off-duty sheriff’s deputy for help—a common practice that allows law enforcement agencies to fill staffing gaps and deputies to earn some extra cash.
The deputy, Stephen Matthew Lassiter, arrived at the site and began his duties. After midnight, he was struck by a vehicle. The injuries to his head, arms, hands and legs were so severe that emergency workers airlifted him to a hospital in Florence, South Carolina, and he had two surgeries.
When Lassiter filed a workers’ compensation claim the following month, he listed the sheriff’s office and the construction company, Truesdell Corporation, as his employers. But both denied that Lassiter was working for them at the time of the accident.
A dispute about who is responsible for paying Lassiter’s medical bills has been working its way through the court system, culminating with a hearing before the North Carolina Supreme Court on April 17. The court’s ruling could provide clarity about who is responsible for a law enforcement officer who is working off duty or moonlighting with a second job.
“These law enforcement officers, not only in Robeson County but statewide, depend on these moonlighting jobs for their income,” Greg Horner, a Raleigh attorney representing the sheriff’s office, told the state Supreme Court justices.
When the sheriff’s office and Truesdell denied his claim, Lassiter requested a hearing with the North Carolina Industrial Commission, which handles workers’ compensation claims. William W. “Bill” Peaslee, a deputy commissioner for the state agency, found in 2021 that Lassiter was employed by the sheriff’s office when he was injured, not by Truesdell.
The sheriff’s office appealed, arguing that Truesdell should share the burden of Lassiter’s medical expenses, but the full commission upheld the ruling.
The case then went to the North Carolina Court of Appeals, where a three-judge panel ruled in 2023 that he was employed at the time by both the sheriff’s office and Truesdell.
Who had ‘control’?
The state appeals court had not previously addressed whether a law enforcement officer working off duty as a traffic control officer is an independent contractor—or an employee of the private company or the law enforcement agency, or both, Judge Jefferson Griffin wrote in his court opinion.
Independent contractors are not eligible for coverage under the Workers’ Compensation Act.
Truesdell, an Arizona-based company with offices in Wake County, was hired by the N.C. Department of Transportation to complete bridge work along I-95 in Robeson County. Under its contract with the DOT, Truesdell was mandated to use law enforcement officers to direct traffic at the construction site.
While directing traffic, Lassiter “was outfitted in a reflective vest with his badge visibly displayed upon his belt,” Griffin wrote. “He also had a service weapon and personal flashlight with him. [Lassiter] was displaying his blue lights—of which only publicly owned vehicles, used for law enforcement purposes are legally allowed to display.”
Obershea and Edwards determined more officers were needed to divert traffic the night Lassiter was injured, based on a plan created by a subcontractor hired by Truesdell, Duane Jones, a Charlotte-based attorney, told the state Supreme Court. The men had to call Truesdell for approval to bring on additional officers.
Law enforcement officers were required to submit W-9 employment forms to Truesdell and complete time sheets to get paid $55 an hour for work, court records show.
But Truesdell did not have “control” over Lassiter, Jones argued, saying no one from the company spoke to him, told him where to be at the site or trained him on how to control traffic.
“They didn’t actually hire him, in the sense they didn’t put a job listing and everybody shows up,” Jones said.
Setting precedent
The state Supreme Court justices seemed to focus in last month’s hearing on what their potential ruling could mean for other cases involving injured law enforcement officers. Should an employer—say a church, nightclub or motel—that hires a moonlighting officer be on the hook for a workers’ compensation claim, or should the employer be liable in a potential lawsuit?
“What I’m wrestling with,” Chief Justice Paul Newby said, “what happens if the owner of the motel directs the police officer into a situation he knew or should know was terribly dangerous and the police officer gets injured?”
If the court rules that the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office is solely responsible for Lassiter’s expenses, it could have a chilling effect on law enforcement agencies across the state, Jeffrey B. Welty, a professor of public law and government at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Government, told the Border Belt Independent. Agencies could become reluctant to support officers’ secondary jobs.
“Traffic control is right up there,” Welty said of such jobs. “whether for construction projects or road races or marches.”
Horner, the attorney representing Robeson County, told the justices there could be a ripple effect if agencies tell officers to stop moonlighting. Some might find jobs at larger law enforcement agencies that can afford to pay higher salaries, he argued, and some might leave North Carolina.
“What happens to those officers? What happens to Robeson County?” he asked. “What if the state loses officers to jurisdictions where moonlighting is encouraged?”
