WORKERS' COMPENSATION

In workers' compensation disputes, courts sometime struggle to determine whether an employee was actually in the course and scope of employment when the injury occurred. For example, an employee of a rural Pennsylvania university left work after a winter snowfall and found piles of snow in the parking lot. A truck parked next to the employee's car was so close that it prevented her from entering her car on the driver's side. Instead, she entered from the passenger side and injured her back when she crossed over the center console climbing into the driver's seat.

Generally, an employee who is injured while not actively engaged in work activities still is entitled to workers' compensation benefits if the employee can prove three factors. First, the injury must have occurred on the employer's premises. Second, it must have occurred at a time when the employee had to be at the work premises. Third, the injury must have been caused by the condition of the premises or by the operation of the employer's business.

In this case, the judge denied the university employee workers' comp benefits, ruling that the injury did not arise out of the course of her employment and that she was not engaged in the furtherance of the affairs of the university at the time of her injury. The employee did not meet the third factor applied to employees injured outside the course of their active employment because the pickup truck, while poorly parked, was not a "condition of the employer's premises.

The information you obtain at this site is not, nor is it intended to be, legal advice. You should consult an attorney for individual advice regarding your own situation.

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