If an employee slips on ice in the company's parking lot and is injured is that employee eligible for workers' comp? The lot was plowed, but ice formed overnight.
I would turn it into your carrier and let them make the decision if it is covered. Do not tell the employee that it will or won't be covered. Let them know you will submit it. If you take the responsiblity to make the decision and make the employee mad they will probably come back with a lawsuit.
Personally, we have had employees fall in the parking lot and work comp has covered their bills (and in one case physical thearpy).
I always thought not, but recently had my mind changed. We had an employee to fall outside after her shift, on the way to her car and she broke her ankle. I thought I had always been told that it was not comp if not occuring in the course of her work. But, the carrier and my corporate said otherwise. I still disagreed and called the comp state office who agree with the carrier and corporate. The ruling was that had it not been for her job and the fact that she had been at work, she would not have been injured. If however, she had left the property, it would not be work related. So, see, it's not too late for an old dog.
I remember a case as such and I believe we were told that she had to get to and from her car to be able to come to work. Since she was parked on our lot we were liable. Not sure but think if she were not parked on our lot (ie on the street across the road) we would not have been liable. Was confused, she still had to get to us but we are not responsible for the maintenance off our site.
In Ohio it's covered through workers' compensation even though the person wasn't actively working. It happened on the employer's premises so workers' comp. covers it.
The same thing happened here - two EEs on the same morning. In our lot, it is covered. The agent indicated it was not be covered if it was a third party lot, even if they were coming into or leaving work.
This taken from a "Letter of Interpretation" off of OSHA's website. I will attache the the link so you can read the entire letter, but I think it addresses your question. Hope this helps.
Scenario 2:
An employee must report to work by 8:00 a.m. The employee drove into the company parking lot at 7:30 a.m. and parked the car. The employee exited the car and proceeded to the office to report to work. The parking lot and sidewalks are privately owned by the facility and both are within the property line, but not the controlled access points (i.e., fence, guards). The employee stepped onto the sidewalk and slipped on the snow and ice. The employee suffered a back injury and missed multiple days of work. The company believes that the employee was still in the process of the commute to work since the employee had not yet checked in at the office. Since a work task was not being performed, the site personnel deemed the incident not work-related and therefore not recordable.
Response: Company parking lots and sidewalks are part of the employer's establishment for recordkeeping purposes. Here, the employee slipped on an icy sidewalk while walking to the office to report for work. In addition, the event or exposure that occurred does not meet any of the work-related exceptions contained in 1904.5(b)(2). The employee was on the sidewalk because of work; therefore, the case is work-related regardless of the fact that he had not actually checked in.
Isn't this typical of OSHA, if you read the regs a little further in 1904.5(b)(2)(vii), if this ee had been hit by a motor vehicle in the lot it would not be a recording event! That doesn't mean that it wouldn't be a WC case, just not recordable on the 300 log.
Speaking of which, Safety, we log accidents that our temps have even though they are not our comp risks. Would you record an injury to a vendor or mechanic a manufacturer sent in to repair equipment? I think OSHA told me that you record incidents for the facility without regard to who pays or sponsors the injured party. Make sense?
Here is some language from OSHA along with a link.
Additional guidance
Question 31-1. How is the term"supervised" in section 1904.31 defined for the purpose of determining whether the host employer must record the work-related injuries and illnesses of employees obtained from a temporary help service?
The host employer must record the recordable injuries and illnesses of employees not on its payroll if it supervises them on a day-to-day basis. Day-to-day supervision occurs when "in addition to specifying the output, product or result to be accomplished by the person's work, the employer supervises the details, means, methods and processes by which the work is to be accomplished."
[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 01-28-05 AT 10:58AM (CST)[/font][br][br]
Nancy,
I don't know the WC laws in your state but I'm betting that the previous posters are correct -- and that in the end this "incident" will probably be classified as work-related. Most WC commissions (and courts) take the view that once the employee steps onto the employer's premises, they are "on-the-job." We recently had a similar situation where an employee stopped to chat with co-workers at another of our work-sites (not her own) on her way to work. She slipped on ice in the parking lot and broke her arm. Relying on the "portal-to-portal" mentality, we fought this case all the way through the process and when it finally ended up in front of a judge -- she prevailed. In court she testified that she had stopped to warn co-workers of icy road conditions and the judge opined that she was acting within the scope of her employment by attempting to act in a safe manner and look out for the welfare of co-workers. This particular employee had a history of stopping by the other workplace in question to chat with friends each morning and while we had no trouble believing that road conditions were mentioned, we had no reason to believe that it was her prime motivation for stopping. So, I said all of that to say this, take the previous advice and submit the claim -- I'm at least sure that you are legally obligated in most states to file the claim. Let the insurance carrier's resources take it from there -- that's one of the reasons that you buy insurance in the first place.
Comments
Personally, we have had employees fall in the parking lot and work comp has covered their bills (and in one case physical thearpy).
Scenario 2:
An employee must report to work by 8:00 a.m.
The employee drove into the company parking lot at 7:30 a.m. and parked the car.
The employee exited the car and proceeded to the office to report to work.
The parking lot and sidewalks are privately owned by the facility and both are within the property line, but not the controlled access points (i.e., fence, guards).
The employee stepped onto the sidewalk and slipped on the snow and ice.
The employee suffered a back injury and missed multiple days of work.
The company believes that the employee was still in the process of the commute to work since the employee had not yet checked in at the office. Since a work task was not being performed, the site personnel deemed the incident not work-related and therefore not recordable.
Response: Company parking lots and sidewalks are part of the employer's establishment for recordkeeping purposes. Here, the employee slipped on an icy sidewalk while walking to the office to report for work. In addition, the event or exposure that occurred does not meet any of the work-related exceptions contained in 1904.5(b)(2). The employee was on the sidewalk because of work; therefore, the case is work-related regardless of the fact that he had not actually checked in.
[url]http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=INTERPRETATIONS&p_id=24735[/url]
Additional guidance
Question 31-1. How is the term"supervised" in section 1904.31 defined for the purpose of determining whether the host employer must record the work-related injuries and illnesses of employees obtained from a temporary help service?
The host employer must record the recordable injuries and illnesses of employees not on its payroll if it supervises them on a day-to-day basis. Day-to-day supervision occurs when "in addition to specifying the output, product or result to be accomplished by the person's work, the employer supervises the details, means, methods and processes by which the work is to be accomplished."
[url]http://www.osha.gov/recordkeeping/detailedfaq.html#1904.4[/url]
Nancy,
I don't know the WC laws in your state but I'm betting that the previous posters are correct -- and that in the end this "incident" will probably be classified as work-related. Most WC commissions (and courts) take the view that once the employee steps onto the employer's premises, they are "on-the-job." We recently had a similar situation where an employee stopped to chat with co-workers at another of our work-sites (not her own) on her way to work. She slipped on ice in the parking lot and broke her arm. Relying on the "portal-to-portal" mentality, we fought this case all the way through the process and when it finally ended up in front of a judge -- she prevailed. In court she testified that she had stopped to warn co-workers of icy road conditions and the judge opined that she was acting within the scope of her employment by attempting to act in a safe manner and look out for the welfare of co-workers. This particular employee had a history of stopping by the other workplace in question to chat with friends each morning and while we had no trouble believing that road conditions were mentioned, we had no reason to believe that it was her prime motivation for stopping. So, I said all of that to say this, take the previous advice and submit the claim -- I'm at least sure that you are legally obligated in most states to file the claim. Let the insurance carrier's resources take it from there -- that's one of the reasons that you buy insurance in the first place.