Many companies are legally required to provide workers’ compensation benefits to employees that are injured at work. While this may seem straightforward, there are many situations where an employer or insurer may claim that an employee is not entitled to workers’ compensation because they were not on-site at the time of the injury. However, employees may recover worker’s compensation even if they are offsite when they were injured.
Workers may still recover benefits for offsite work errands
It is not uncommon for workers to wear many different hats while they are at work. In addition to doing their usual job duties, a supervisor may ask an employee to take on additional responsibilities based on the needs of the company or the supervisor’s personal needs. Supervisors may even ask employees to run errands for them before or after work.
Under the going and coming rule, employees generally do not recover workers’ compensation for injuries that occur when they are commuting to and from work. However, there are several exceptions.
For example, under the special errand exception of the going and coming rule, an employee may recover damages for injuries that occur when you are running a special errand offsite. A special errand could be anything related to work, such as picking up coffee for your supervisor at their request. You may also be entitled to workers’ compensation benefits if you are injured while using a company car or traveling between job sites while running an errand.
If you are running an errand offsite that benefits your supervisor personally (e.g., picking up your supervisor’s drycleaning), your employer may still be liable for damages.
Workers injured while running errands for their boss or supervisor should consider consulting with an attorney as soon as possible to determine whether they are entitled to workers’ comp benefits.
