Posts Tagged ‘personal comfort’

In Search of a Good Cup of Joe

Wednesday, January 20th, 2010

We recently blogged a “to and fro” case involving a meandering motorcycle ride back to work from a conference. The cycle crashed and the employee filed for workers comp. The court in Wyoming determined that the accident took place during a deviation from the direct route home and thus was not compensable. Some readers commented that the employee was following his supervisor’s lead, so the injury should have been compensable. “To and fro” often raises issues in the gray zone. Here’s another gray area: coffee breaks.
Jesse Cooper, master plumber and foreman, needed to consult with someone at the union hall in Winslow Township, New Jersey. His contact was teaching a class, so Jesse decided to take a coffee break. He preferred the coffee at a deli some five miles down the road. On his way to a good cuppa, he was involved in a serious accident, breaking his arm and both legs.
Personal Comfort or Personal Errand?
Cooper’s employer, Bernickel Enterprises, argued that the coffee break was a personal errand. Workers comp judge Bradley Henson determined that a coffee break was part of the working day and that Cooper was under the “coming and going” rule while on his way to a somewhat distant cup of joe*. He found the injuries to be compensable.
Henson describes Winslow Township as a “rural area”, so the options for coffee are somewhat limited. In his summary of the case, New Jersey comp guru John Geaney notes that there were other coffee options closer than the deli; the judge, however, “accepted as credible that petitioner knew the deli had good coffee.”
This ruling certainly stretches the parameters of the “personal comfort” doctrine to its outer limits. One wonders when that hypothetical line between work and personal might actually be crossed: if I have a sudden craving for a Caramel Brulee Latte (not likely, mind you) and the nearest Starbuck’s is 15 miles out of the way, am I still “working” when I head in that direction?
The Driving Hazard
These two cases share one important characteristic: both involve accidents while driving, statistically the most dangerous part of the working day. As risk managers contemplate enhancements to safety programs, they would do well to put safe driving near the top of the list.
* Why do they call it a “cup of Joe”? Check this link for a possible if not entirely plausible answer involving a former Secretary of the Navy.

When play becomes work, or the case of the traveling employee

Tuesday, February 26th, 2008

There are various circumstances in which an injury that occurs during a recreational activity might be compensable. One exception might be if the injury occurs on company premises or at a company-sponsored event, a likelihood that approaches near certainty if participation in the event was mandatory. Another common exception is in the case of traveling employees. When employees are engaged in business travel on behalf of their employer, compensable activities may encompass a variety of activities that would likely not be compensable for a “fixed place” employee. For the purpose of workers compensation, a traveling employee is generally considered to be working continuously during the business trip unless a special deviation from business can be determined. Daily life and personal comfort activities that would not be covered at home are generally considered work: eating, sleeping, and traveling, for example, as well as some recreational activities.
Roberto Ceniceros of Business Insurance has a brief write-up of a judgment by Washington’s Supreme Court that offers an excellent illustration of the traveling employee doctrine at work. Alfred Giovanelli was a skilled firebrick mason who regularly traveled the country to rebuild and fix furnaces for Saint-Gobain Corporation (formerly Ball-Foster Glass Container Company). During one assignment at one of the company’s plants in Seattle, he was injured on his day off. He was headed to a park with his supervisor to investigate a concert, but on crossing the street in front of his hotel, he was struck by a vehicle and grievously injured. He applied for and was granted workers compensation. His employer continued to appeal on the basis that the Giovanelli was engaged in a recreational activity that had no business purpose. The appeal wended its way through the various strata of the court until the matter reached the Supreme Court where compensability was upheld. In his article, Ceniceros notes:

The doctrine–also known as the “commercial traveler rule” or the “continuous coverage rule” — generally states that a traveling employee is considered to be in the course of employment during his or her entire trip, except for “a distinct departure on a personal errand,” court records show. The case document – Ball Foster Glass Container Company v. Alfred Giovanelli and the Department of Labor and Industries in the State of Washington – is worth a read. It’s pretty plain-spoken and it illustrates various principles that generally apply to workers compensation. It offers a brief history of how workers comp evolved, and the adoption of the British Compensation Act’s formula of an injury “arising out of and in the course of employment” – nine not-so-simple words that have spawned innumerable court challenges. The document discusses this phrase in this context and moves on to discussing the matter of whether Giovanelli fit the definition of a “traveling employee” (yes) and the meat of the case, whether Giovanelli had “left the course of employment” when he was injured. In its discussion, the court referenced a few cases when compensability for recreational activities was denied:

Although distinguishing between reasonable personal ministrations and purely
personal amusement ventures may be difficult, courts have had little difficulty denying compensation for unusual or unreasonable activities. See, e.g., E. Airlines v. Rigdon, 543 So. 2d 822 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1989) (denying compensation for employee injured during skiing trip at resort over 50 miles from hotel); Buczynski, 934 P.2d 1169 (hot tub injury occurring in hotel 150 miles away from convention
center and days before convention not compensable).

The employer argued that Giovanelli’s activity was a deviation and that crossing a thoroughfare without the right of way was an “inherently dangerous” activity. The Court disagreed, citing the personal comfort doctrine, and finding that negotiating unfamiliar streets is one of the typical risks that a traveling employee faces. In the discussion of personal comfort, the Court stated:

The scope of activities covered by the personal comfort doctrine depends on the particular circumstances of employment. A traveling employee is entitled to broader coverage than a nontraveling employee because a traveling employee is in a significantly different position of risk than a nontraveling employee. The nontraveling employee may satisfy his personal needs without leaving the comfort of home. In contrast, the traveling employee must face the perils of the street in order to satisfy basic needs, including sleeping, eating, and seeking fresh air and exercise.

In evaluating this particular activity, the Court found that Giovanelli’s crossing the street did not represent a significant deviation from the course of employment.
For further discussion on these matters, see Jim Pocius’ excellent discussion of Workers Compensation and Course of Employment. He looks at the issues of course of employment, fixed place versus traveling employees, and scope of employment. He also offers excellent advice to employers on how to minimize risk:

  • Make social events voluntary. An employer should not make attendance at a social event mandatory. The less control that an employer exerts over social events, the less chance there will be that an injury during a softball game, volleyball game, basketball game, etc., will be considered within the course of employment.
  • Enforce work rules. If the employer has a valid set of work rules that are enforced, such employee behavior as fighting, foul language, and wandering to restricted areas of the plant can all be considered activities which would remove the employee from the course of employment.
  • Keep traveling employees to a minimum. There are innumerable cases of traveling employees being hurt while in vehicles, hotels, and restaurants. In order to avoid this liability, traveling employees should be kept to a minimum if your business permits.
  • Do not send fixed place employees on special missions unless absolutely necessary. If your employees work at one location, the employer must try to keep casual missions by these employees to a minimum. Thus, sending an employee to obtain a form at a state office building or run other errands increases workers compensation exposure.
  • Investigate all claims. As always, good factual investigation on any questionable course of employment claims will pay dividends during litigation.