Injured while picking up dinner on break: Does he get workers’ comp?
January 30, 2012 by Fred HosierPosted in: Injuries, Special Report, Workers' comp
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Will an employee get workers’ comp benefits for an injury he suffered while on a short, paid break?
Richard Potter was a car salesman for Paolozzi Imports.
Potter asked his supervisor to briefly leave work to pick up two spaghetti dinners for the company’s finance manager and bring them back to the dealership. The finance manager had purchased the dinners as part of a fundraiser sponsored by a football team that Potter helped run as a volunteer. Potter drove his own car to pick up the dinners.
It wasn’t unusual for salespeople to leave the dealership on short paid breaks.
Potter was injured in a car crash while returning from picking up the dinners. He’d only been gone about 15 minutes.
A workers’ comp law judge found Potter’s injuries arose out of and in the course of his employment and awarded benefits. The dealership and its insurance carrier appealed. The workers’ comp board affirmed the judge’s ruling. Paolozzi Imports then took the case to the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court.
The appeals court noted rulings in two previous cases that applied here:
- “Accidents that occur during an employee’s short breaks, such as coffee breaks, are considered to be so closely related to the performance of the job that they do not constitute an interruption of employment” (Pabon v. New York City Tr. Auth.), and
- Benefits are awarded “on the theory of constructive control of the employee by the employer during the off-premises activity” (Balsam v. New York State Div. of Empl.).
The court ruled that Potter’s short break didn’t constitute an interruption of employment. For that reason, the court affirmed the workers’ comp board ruling that Potter should receive comp benefits for his injuries.
What do you think about this ruling? Let us know in the comments below.
(Potter v. Paolozzi Imports, NY Supreme Court, Appellate Div., 1/5/12)
You can download a PDF of the court’s decision here.
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Tags: injured on break, out of and in the course of employment, Workers' comp
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January 31st, 2012 at 9:26 am
He was asked by his manager to leave the building and essentailly run an errand for the manager and another executive. Based on your description, it was not even his paid break. He was working, he should have been entitiled to get WC
January 31st, 2012 at 11:04 am
what about an employee who is injured on the way to work?
January 31st, 2012 at 11:16 am
It’s a fair ruling and no surprise.
January 31st, 2012 at 11:22 am
What if during a worker’s 15 minute paid break, he goes off premises to get himself something to eat and is injured in some way. Is the company responsible for this as well? As an employer, should I have in the handbook that you can take your 15 minute break but not leave the premises? If this was something the employee wanted (and not asked by management to go pick up something), is the company still liable?
January 31st, 2012 at 12:20 pm
Not enough information. Was he required to get the food? Even subtlely? As in if the manager said “Can/will you go get the …….” versus just going to go get it. Overall I think it was a fair decision.
January 31st, 2012 at 12:29 pm
Agree with Scott Hollander…The employee was requested (ordered?) by a manager to leave the premise, get the food, and return. Given this, the employee’s actions (i.e., getting the food) are in response to a request by management, and therefore injuries sustained should be compensable thru WC. Essentially, the employer sanctioned the errand, therefore the employer is on the hook.
January 31st, 2012 at 12:48 pm
I’m seeing the detail that Potter was fund raising for the football team that Potter runs, and therefore, has deviated from his employment. The manager(s) should have made it clear that if left to get the fund raising dinners that Potter was on his own time.
If the company had an established practice of letting employees go get something to eat and recognizing that it part of the job to be eating and then to suddenly leave the eating, or break, time to wait on a customer, then the activities allowed on the break time should be covered. The practice seems to be that the employee is on standby even on a dinner break.
However, the details of the story didn’t mention that Potter was getting anything to eat for himself; he was personally fund raising. The manager should have made it clear that it was not recognized as an on-call break. Having failed to notify Potter of that detail, then makes the employer responsible in this case.
January 31st, 2012 at 3:56 pm
He was on the clock and told to go. He’s entitled to WC.
Dave Stern: if you are not on the clock on the way to work you are not entitled to WC.
Rosa Crespo: If he’s on the clock, and he’s not informed that he cannot leave the premises on break, he’s entitled. I would have a documentation on hand signed by the employees stating that they acknowlegde that employees cannot leave the premises while on the clock including break time. If you leave you must punch out.
January 31st, 2012 at 4:34 pm
I’m not a bit surprised. It was the right call. Our directors have been told repeatedly that when they send employees out on errands there is always that risk of WC coming into play.
January 31st, 2012 at 4:46 pm
The article states that he asked his supervisor to leave to run this personal errand. His Finance Mgr had paid for a lunch that was part of a fundraiser that Potter was promoting for his football team, which I assume was not related to his work.
OSHA 1904.5 addresses this in their description of “work-relatedness” when determining if it recordable for record keeping.
“The exception allows the employer to exclude cases where an employee is injured in a motor vehicle accident while commuting from work to home or from home to work or while on a personal errand.”
Yes I understand that this doesn’t have to be considered for workers comp, it’s been my experience that they usually go hand in hand.