Parking lot slip and fall is covered for traveling employee

Under Illinois law, a traveling employee's act of warming up her car in cold weather to ensure it would start at the end of the workday constitutes a reasonable and foreseeable act.

Case name: Klimczak v. Northern Illinois Special Recreation Association, 18 ILWCLB 151 (Ill. W.C. Comm. 2010).

Ruling: The Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission awarded benefits to the claimant, who was injured while walking to her car to warm it up. The claimant's actions were covered under the Workers' Compensation Act as a traveling employee.

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What it means: Under Illinois law, a traveling employee's act of warming up her car in cold weather to ensure it would start at the end of the workday constitutes a reasonable and foreseeable act. Therefore, an injury sustained while performing this act arises out of and in the course of her employment.

Summary: The claimant, a regional coordinator, was responsible for budgeting and programming for recreational activities to enrich the lives of persons with disabilities. Her position involved travel 60 to 70 percent of the time. On the day of the accident, she was walking to her car to warm it up in preparation for travel to an early intervention program when she fell and injured her wrist. Evidence indicated that the claimant was reimbursed for miles traveled in her car. The commission found that the claimant was a traveling employee engaged in reasonable conduct that the employer could have foreseen.

Read more at the WorkersComp Forum homepage.

January 10, 2011

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