Deviation From Employment

The NJ Appellate Division held that an emergency police dispatcher who was injured in a car accident while returning to work from a lunch break was not entitled to workers' compensation benefits. 

Time to Boot Up a Computer Held to be Working

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the district court’s summary judgment in favor of defendant Customer Connexx LLC and remanded for further proceedings in a collective action brought under the Fair Labor Standards Act by call center workers.

Parking Lot Cases to be Compensable Under Legislation Sent to the Governor

The NJ Legislature has passed and sent to the Governor legislation that expands workers’ compensation coverage to parking areas provided by an employer. 

Volunteer's Injury at Community Outreach Event Compensable

The NJ Supreme Court has held that an injury sustained while volunteering at her employer-sponsored event is compensable because the event was not a social or recreational activity. 

When is an off-regular-hours activity not in the course of the employment?

The NJ Supreme Court is deliberating on the issue of whether an an employee should receive workers’ compensation if an injured occurred at an off-regular-hours event. The issue presented to the Court was whether an employee is entitled to benefits under the Workers’ Compensation Act, specifically N.J.S.A. 34:15-7, for injuries that occurred while she was volunteering at her employer’s “Family Fun Day” event?

US Supreme Court Reviews In The Course of Employment Issue

The US Supreme Court ruling in a recent wage and hour case solidified the principle that the time spent by workers to put on and remove safety equipment should be consider time "on the clock" and in the course of employment. This concept reaffirms basic workers' compensation case law that such activities are within the course of employment. The Supreme Court affirmed the lower court verdict awarding damages to the workers of $5.8 Million dollars for overtime wages.

The American Workforce is Working At Home

What is considered "Off-Premises Work" is now a rapidly changing concept in workers' compensation. Challenging compensability is therefore becoming a more difficult concept for employers.

AMERICAN TIME USE SURVEY —2012 RESULTS

In 2012, on days they worked, 23 percent of employed persons did some or all of their work at home,
the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Among workers age 25 and over, those with a
bachelor’s degree or higher were more likely to work at home than were persons with less education—
38 percent of those with a bachelor’s degree or higher performed some work at home on days worked
compared with 5 percent of those with less than a high school diploma.

These and other results from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) were released today. These data
include the average amount of time per day in 2012 that individuals worked, did household activities,
and engaged in leisure and sports activities.

• Employed persons worked an average of 7.7 hours on the days they worked. More hours were worked, on average, on weekdays than on weekend days—8.0 hours compared with 5.7 hours.
• On the days they worked, employed men worked 55 minutes more than employed women. This difference partly reflects women’s greater likelihood of working part time. However, even among full-time workers (those usually working 35 hours or more per week), men worked longer than women—8.5 hours compared with 7.9 hours.
• Many more people worked on weekdays than on weekend days—83 percent of employed persons worked on an average weekday, compared with 34 percent on an average weekend day.
• On the days they worked, 85 percent of employed persons did some or all of their work at their workplace and 23 percent did some or all of their work at home. They spent more time working at the workplace than at home—7.9 hours compared with 3.0 hours.
• Multiple jobholders were more likely to work on an average day than were single jobholders—83 percent compared with 67 percent.
• Self-employed workers were nearly three times more likely than wage and salary workers to have done some work at home on days worked—56 percent compared with 20 percent. Self-employed workers also were more likely to work on weekend days than were wage and salary workers—42 percent compared with 31 percent.
• On the days they worked, 38 percent of employed people age 25 and over with a bachelor’s degree or higher did some work at home, compared with only 5 percent of those with less than a high school diploma. 

Related articles

• Telecommuters: Working From Home Is Convenient, But Distracting
• Americans Work from Home, Watch TV and Sleep
• Study: Most Americans Unhappy at Work
• NJ Uninsured Fund Cracks Down on Uninsured Employers
• Employee Rights Hurt by Supreme Court Decisions

Driving Home From A Conference Held to Be Compensable

The employee's travel which resulted in his fatal injuries while he was driving from home in a vehicle furnished by his employer to an overnight conference outside his normal work area at the employer's request, was held to be compensable for workers' compensation purposes. The travels originated in, and furthered, the business of his employer and, thus, occurred "in course of employment." Even though the accident occurred on the way to pick up a coworker who had the same job as the employee and was also required to attend the same conference, death benefits were payable.

"As previously noted, an employee's travel between home and work furthers the affairs of the employer (the second element of the course and scope definition) because it makes employment possible. Thus, the propriety of summary judgment hinges on the definition's first element—whether the travel originated in the employer's business. There is no bright-line rule for determining whether employee travel originated in the employer's business. Rather, each situation is necessarily dependent on the facts. As a general rule, an employee's travel originates in his employer's business if the travel was pursuant to the express or implied requirements of the employment contract. This reflects the underlying policy goal of allocating to the employer and insurance carrier the risks inherent in an employee's job while leaving to the employee risks that are “shared by society as a whole and do not arise as a result of the work of the employer.” When the employer requires the employee to travel as part of its business—i.e., pursuant to the contract of employment—the risk of traveling stems from that business and properly can be said to arise as a result of the employer's business." [Cites omitted]

Zurich American Ins. Co. v McVey, No. 03–09–00666–CV, 2011 WL 1238657 )Tex. App. - Austin, 2011) Decided March 30, 2011.

For over 3 decades the Law Offices of Jon L. Gelman  1.973.696.7900  jon@gelmans.com have been representing injured workers and their families who have suffered occupational accidents and illnesses.

Related articles

• Workers Compensation Act Does Not Bar A Negligence Action Against A General Partner (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Common Themes, The Green Mountain System & Newt Gingrich (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Court Orders Workers' Compensation Insurance Carrier to Comply With OSHA Subpoena (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Bilateral Carpal Tunnel Results in Workers' Compensation Total Disability (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Inconsistent Enforcement of State Wage and Hour Laws Could Lead to "Regulatory Race to The Bottom, " New Study Finds (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)