If I Travel As Part Of Work And I Am Injured On My Way Home, Am I Entitled To Receive Workers’ Compensation Benefits For This Injury?

This issue was addressed by the North Carolina Court of Appeals in Wright v. Alltech Wiring & Controls (2019)

In this case the injured employee was required to visit clients’ job sites and on the majority of days the injured employee would travel from home to the employer’s office before heading to clients’ job sites; however, on some mornings the injured employee would travel from home directly to the clients’ job sites and on most days at the end of the work day the injured employee would return to the employer’s office before traveling home. The employer provided the injured employee with a company truck, which the injured employee used to commute to and from the employer’s office and to travel to and from clients’ job sites.

On the date of the injury employee’s injury, the injured employee left the employer’s office to travel home and during this driving the injured employee had a phone call with the owner for the employer, then stopped by a Target store and when heading home the injured employee was involved in a motor vehicle accident.

The issue in this case was whether the injured employee was in the course and scope of employment at the time of the injury, which would allow for the payment of workers’ compensation benefits due to the injured employee’s motor vehicle accident.

The North Carolina Court of Appeals noted that generally an employee’s travel to and from work is not considered to be in the course and scope of employment so as to allow for possible workers’ compensation benefits if an accident occurs during such travel. However, the North Carolina Court of Appeals noted that exceptions to this general rule are:

1. When an employee is traveling to or from work, but still on the employer’s premises at the time of the accident.
2. When the employee is performing a special errand for or on behalf of the employer in the furtherance of the employer’s business.
3. When the employee travels to perform services for the employer as part of the employee’s job for the employer.
4. When the employee is provided transportation pursuant to a contract with the employer or provided compensation by the employer to cover the cost of transportation.

In this case the injured employee argued that the injured employee was provided transportation by the employer and that the injured employee traveled to perform services for the employer as part of the injured employee’s job for the employer, both of which would allow for the payment of workers’ compensation benefits due to the injured employee’s motor vehicle accident on the date of injury.

In this case the North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled that although the employer provided the injured employee with a company truck that the injured employee did not have a contract with the employer to provide transportation and the injured employee was not provided separate compensation to cover the cost of transportation. The North Carolina Court of Appeals further ruled that at the time of the injured employee’s motor vehicle accident he was not traveling to or from a client’s job site and instead was traveling home from the employer’s office as part of the injured employee’s normal work commute to and from the employer’s office. For these reasons, the North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled that the injured employee was not entitlement to received workers’ compensation benefits based on the motor vehicle accident on the injured employee’s date of injury.

Should you have any questions about this or any other issues involving your work-related injury, please feel free to reach out to one of the Board Certified Workers’ Compensation Specialists at Cardinal Law Partners for a free consultation by calling (833) 444-4127.