San Diego police officer Stephen Molnar was subpoenaed to testify in court on a work-related matter on a day he wasn’t scheduled to report for duty. While driving his personal car from home to the courthouse, he was injured in an automobile accident. Molnar filed a workers’ compensation claim, which was ultimately denied. We’ll explain why.
Going And Coming Rule
Injuries suffered during an employee’s routine commute to and from work typically aren’t covered by workers’ compensation. This “going and coming rule” is based on the idea that the course of employment doesn’t begin until the employee enters the employer’s premises. Plus, during a commute, an employee normally isn’t performing services that benefit the employer.
However, courts recognize an exception to this rule when the employer requests or invites the employee to perform an unusual service—or special mission—during the commute, so that the trip is considered to benefit the employer. To determine whether an employee is on a special mission, courts look at 1) whether the activity is special, which means that it must be extraordinary in relation to the employee’s usual duties; 2) whether the activity is within the course of employment; and 3) whether the activity is undertaken at the employer’s request or invitation.
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Court Says Officer Was Making Regular Commute
A California Court of Appeal found that Molnar’s travels from his home to the courthouse didn’t amount to a “special mission,” and thus he wasn’t entitled to receive workers’ comp benefits for his injuries. The court explained that San Diego patrol officers were subpoenaed to testify in proceedings arising out of their patrol work an average of twice a month. And it wasn’t unusual for officers to be called on to testify on days when they weren’t scheduled to report to the station. Plus, Molnar and other officers received overtime compensation for testifying on off-duty days. Therefore, the court concluded that testifying in court on matters related to his patrol duties was an integral part of Molnar’s customary work responsibilities and his travel to the courthouse was simply a commute that he regularly made in carrying out his job duties.
Practical Guidelines
Generally, injuries suffered during an employee’s normal commute to and from your premises—which includes the office, plant or parking lot—aren’t covered by workers’ comp. But there are circumstances when this going and coming rule doesn’t apply. Here are some guidelines:
- Unusual trips. Special missions are normally requested by the employer. An employee may be considered to be on a special mission—and therefore covered by workers’ compensation—when they’re required to make a regular trip to work at an unusual time, an extra trip to work, or when they are performing an errand for you during the commute.
- Employee’s own vehicle. If you require an employee to bring their own vehicle to work for use on the job, the employee is entitled to workers’ comp benefits for injuries sustained during the commute. This is also true if you have come to expect that an employee will bring their car to work and reimburse them for commute mileage.
- Alternative commute programs. An employee who voluntarily participates in a government-sponsored commute program isn’t covered by workers’ comp unless they’re paid for participating in the program.
- Special risks. An injury sustained outside your premises may be covered by workers’ comp if it’s caused by a special risk related to the employment. For example, one court found workers’ comp applied to a minor employee who died in an auto accident on the way home from work after being required to work more than the maximum hours permitted by law for minors.