Most workers are covered by state workers compensation laws. These laws afford benefits to workers who are injured on the job. To be eligible for benefits, a worker must be injured while in the course of employment for his or her employer. Injuries a worker sustains while engaged in personal activities are not covered. But suppose a worker is injured while commuting to work? As an employer, are you liable for the worker's injury and thus, obligated to provide workers compensation benefits?

As a general rule, an employee who is commuting to or from work is not considered to be in the course of employment. Rather, a worker's daily commute is deemed to occur on the worker's personal time. This rule is known as the coming and going rule. It is based largely on court precedent, meaning previous decisions issued by courts. The coming and going rule may vary somewhat from one state to another.

The coming and going rule has some exceptions. If one of your workers is injured while commuting to or from work, and he or she meets one of these exceptions, the worker may be eligible for workers compensation benefits. 

Paid Travel Time

The coming and going rule may not apply if the worker is paid for the time he or she is traveling to or from work. For example, suppose that Systems Services offers computer repair services 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Stuart is employed by the company as an on-call technician. Because Stuart has no specified days off, his employer compensates him for travel time.

Stuart is paid an hourly rate from the time he leaves home until he returns from a job. If Stuart is injured in an auto accident that occurs while he is driving to or from a job site, Stuart may be eligible for workers compensation benefits.

Hazardous Conditions

An exception to the coming and going rule may also apply if an employee is injured by a hazard created by the employer. For this exception to apply, the hazard must be unique. That is, the hazard cannot be one to which the average worker is exposed.

For example, suppose that ABC Inc. leases a large commercial building in an industrial area. ABC requires its employees to park their vehicles in employee parking lot. This lot is located at the end of an unlit road that is not plowed or de-iced in the winter.

Early on a December morning Jane is driving to the office and heads to the parking lot. She is driving down the dark access road when she accidentally hits a snow bank. Jane loses control of her car and skids into a tree. The impact causes her to break her arm. Jane files a workers compensation claim. In this case, the claim might be covered because the hazardous conditions that led to Jane's injury (snowy, unlit road) were created by the employer.

Required Use of Personal Vehicle

Another exception to the coming and going rule applies when employees are required to use their personal vehicles to benefit the employer. For example, suppose that Jim is employed as a salesperson by the Long Life Insurance Company. Jim spends some of his time at Long Life's office. However, his employer requires him to use his personal vehicle to call on clients at their home or place of business.

One evening Jim leaves a client's office after a meeting and heads home. He is making a left turn when he is involved in an auto accident. Jim sustains a broken leg and files a workers compensation claim. Jim's claim might be covered. The reason is that Long Life, Jim's employer, benefits from Jim's use of his personal vehicle. Thus, Jim's accident could be deemed to have occurred in the course of his employment.

Special Errand

An employee who is traveling to or from work may be considered in the course of employment if the worker is performing an errand on the employer's behalf. For instance, Jane (Beth's boss) asks Beth to stop by the dry cleaners on her way to work and pick up Jane's clothes. Beth is injured in an auto accident while driving her personal auto to the cleaners (or to the office from the cleaners). Beth may be eligible for workers compensation benefits as a result of her injury.

Employer-provided Transportation

Another exception to the coming and going rule applies to an employer-provided vehicle or other mode of transportation. That is, if an employee is injured while commuting to or from work in a vehicle furnished by the employer, the employee may be eligible for workers compensation benefits. An employee may also be eligible for benefits if he or she is injured while commuting to or from work using a mode of transportation (such as a bus or van) provided by the employer.

Auto Liability

Finally, an employer might be liable for an auto accident caused by the negligence of an employee driving his or her personal auto if the auto is being driven on the employer's behalf. In the Long Life Insurance Company example described above, Jim uses his personal vehicle to benefit his employer. Suppose that Jim is at-fault in the accident and the other driver is injured. The other driver sues Long Life. Long Life should be covered for the accident under its commercial auto policy if the policy includes non-owned auto liability coverage.