Weinstein

This case presents the issue whether an employee’s action against her employer for injuries sustained as the result of a “slip and fall” while on the employer’s premises in the course of treatment for a prior work-related injury is barred by the provisions of the Labor Code establishing workers’ compensation as the exclusive remedy for her recovery (Lab. Code, §§ 3600-3603); or whether the employer may be held liable based upon the common law duty of a landowner to an invitee to exercise reasonable care in maintaining premises to avoid exposing persons to an unreasonable risk of harm. The trial court granted summary judgment to respondent St. Mary’s Medical Center (the Hospital), holding that it had established a complete defense to the action on the grounds appellant Beth Weinstein’s exclusive remedy was under the workers’ compensation law and her complaint for damages was statutorily barred by sections 3600 and 3602.

To answer the question posed, we focus upon the nature of the duties owed by an employer to its employee, and their origin at the time of the injury at issue. We conclude the Hospital failed to establish that the “conditions of compensation” existed at the…