Am I Covered by Workers Compensation While Traveling Out of Town for Work?

Am I Covered by Workers Compensation While Traveling Out of Town for Work?

What Happens If You Are Injured on a Business Trip, at a Hotel, in a Rental Car, or While Working Outside Alabama?

Your employer sends you out of town for work.  Maybe you are traveling to a construction project.  Perhaps you are attending a conference or training program. You may be visiting a customer, installing equipment, making a sales call, or temporarily working at another company location.

Then something happens.

You are injured in a car accident on the way to the assignment.

You slip and fall at the hotel.

You are injured while traveling from the hotel to the job site.

Or you are hurt while eating dinner after working all day away from home.

You may wonder: “I wasn’t at my regular workplace when I got hurt. Is this still workers’ compensation?”  Possibly yes.

Alabama workers’ compensation is not limited to injuries that occur inside your employer’s building or even inside the State of Alabama.  When your job requires you to travel, the travel itself—and activities reasonably necessary or incidental to that travel—may be sufficiently connected to your employment for an injury to be covered.

But that does not mean every injury that happens while you are out of town is automatically a workers’ compensation injury.

The important question is: What were you doing, and why were you doing it, when you were injured?

That distinction can determine whether Alabama workers’ compensation benefits are available.

You Don’t Have to Be at Your Regular Workplace to Be Covered

One of the most common misconceptions about workers’ compensation is that you have to be physically “at work” when you are injured.

That is not the law.

Under § 25-5-51, Ala. Code 1975, a covered injury generally must arise out of and occur in the course of employment.  That requirement focuses on the relationship between the injury and the employment—not simply the street address where the injury happened.

Alabama courts have explained that an injury occurs in the course of employment when it occurs within the period of employment, at a place where the employee may reasonably be, and while the employee is reasonably performing job duties or doing something incidental to them.

For an employee whose work requires travel, the places where the employee may reasonably be can extend well beyond the employer’s normal premises.

Recommended Reading: Does It Matter Where My Work Injury Occurred?

What Is a Traveling Employee?

There is no single type of “traveling employee.”  You do not have to be an airline pilot or long-haul truck driver.  Employees whose jobs may require travel include:

• Construction workers sent to distant projects;
• Sales representatives;
• Service technicians;
• Nurses and other healthcare employees;
• Consultants;
• Inspectors;
• Employees attending conferences or training;
• Employees temporarily assigned to another office;
• Employees installing or repairing equipment;
• Employees visiting customers;
• Employees traveling between company locations; and
• Employees sent out of state on temporary assignments.

The important fact is that the employment requires the employee to be away from the usual workplace.

That can change the workers’ compensation analysis considerably.

What If I Am Injured Driving to an Out-of-Town Job?

Suppose your employer normally has you work in Birmingham.  Your supervisor tells you “Tomorrow, I need you at our project in Mobile.”  You are injured in an automobile accident while traveling to the Mobile project.

The insurance company may argue that you were merely “going to work,” but that does not necessarily make the trip an ordinary commute.

Alabama’s Going and Coming Rule generally excludes injuries sustained during an ordinary commute to and from work; however, Alabama courts recognize exceptions when the travel itself is sufficiently connected to the employer’s business.  A trip to a temporary or distant work assignment can present very different circumstances from an employee’s normal drive to the same workplace every morning.

Factors may include:

• Whether the employer directed the trip;
• Whether the destination was temporary or unusual;
• Whether the employee was being paid for travel time;
• Whether mileage or travel expenses were reimbursed;
• Whether the employer provided transportation;
• Whether the employee was transporting equipment or materials; and
• Whether the travel itself was required to perform the assignment.

Recommended Reading: I Was Hurt Going to or Coming Home From Work—Is My Injury Covered by Alabama Workers’ Compensation? Alabama’s Going and Coming Rule generally applies to an ordinary commute, but work-required travel can present a very different situation.

What If My Employer Pays for the Trip?

Payment for travel can be important evidence that the travel is part of the employment.  Your employer may:

• Pay you for travel time;
• Reimburse mileage;
• Pay for gasoline;
• Provide a company vehicle;
• Purchase airline tickets;
• Rent a vehicle;
• Pay for a hotel;
• Provide a daily travel allowance; or
• Reimburse meals and other travel expenses.

None of these facts should necessarily be viewed in isolation, but when an employer sends an employee hundreds of miles from home, pays the travel expenses, provides lodging, and requires the employee to be there for work, those facts may strongly demonstrate that the travel is connected to the employment.

Alabama courts have recognized that employer-furnished transportation or substantial payment of travel expenses can bring travel within the course of employment.

What If I Am Injured at the Hotel?

This is where out-of-town work injuries become particularly interesting.  Suppose your employer sends you to Huntsville for a three-day training program.  The employer pays for your hotel.

After the first day of training, you return to the hotel.  You slip on a wet floor and suffer a serious knee injury.  You were not performing a specific physical job duty.  Does that automatically mean the injury is not covered?

No.

When an employee is required by the employment to live or lodge away from home, the relationship between lodging and employment may become important.  Having stated this,  simply being in a hotel paid for by the employer does not make everything that happens there a workers’ compensation injury.  The circumstances of the injury still matter.

What If I Am Injured While Eating Dinner?

Employees traveling for work still have to eat.

Suppose your employer sends you to another city for several days.  After completing the day’s assignment, you go to a nearby restaurant for dinner and are injured.

Is that covered?

There is no useful rule that says “Every meal on a business trip is workers’ compensation.”  Nor is it accurate to assume “I was off the clock, so workers’ compensation cannot apply.”

The analysis can depend upon the circumstances of the trip, the employee’s work arrangement, whether the activity was reasonably incidental to required travel, and whether the employee had substantially departed from the employment for a personal purpose.

Alabama cases involving meals and traveling employees demonstrate that these questions are highly fact-specific.  The important point is that an employee sent away from home for work necessarily must engage in ordinary activities such as eating and sleeping while away.

Whether an injury during one of those activities arises out of and in the course of employment depends upon its relationship to the work-required travel.

Recommended Reading: What If I Suffered My Work Injury During Lunch Break

What If I Am Injured Driving From the Hotel to the Job Site?

That may present a stronger connection to employment than an ordinary commute from home.

Suppose your employer sends you to Montgomery for a week.  The employer pays for your hotel.  Each morning, you drive from the hotel to the temporary project.  An accident occurs on the second morning.

The insurance company may call this “going to work.”

But you would not have been staying at that hotel—or making that particular trip—except for the out-of-town assignment.  The purpose of the travel, the employer’s requirements, the temporary nature of the assignment, payment of travel expenses, and other circumstances may all become important.

The Going and Coming Rule should not simply be applied without examining why the employee was at that location in the first place.

What If I Am Injured in a Rental Car?

The fact that the vehicle is rented does not determine workers’ compensation coverage.

Suppose your employer sends you to Atlanta to meet a customer.  The employer pays for your flight and rental car.  You leave the airport and drive toward the customer’s office.  Another vehicle runs a red light and hits you.

You may have an Alabama workers’ compensation claim if Alabama law applies and the accident arose out of and in the course of your employment.

You may also have a separate personal injury claim against the driver who caused the collision.

The fact that you were driving a rental car instead of a company vehicle does not change the fundamental question:

Why were you traveling?

Recommended Reading: What Should I Do After a Car Accident While Working? How to Protect Both Your Alabama Workers’ Compensation Claim and Your Personal Injury Claim.

What If I Am Injured at the Airport?

Again, the location does not automatically determine the answer.  Suppose your employer requires you to fly to another state for training.  While walking through the airport to your gate, you fall and suffer a serious injury.

You were at the airport because your employer required the business trip.  That creates a very different factual situation from an employee who happens to suffer an injury at an airport while leaving for a personal vacation.

The workers’ compensation analysis focuses on the relationship between the activity and the employment.

What If I Am Hurt at a Conference or Training Program?

Employer-required conferences and training can also be part of the employment.

Suppose your employer directs you to attend a three-day certification course in another city.  You are injured during the training.  That may be a relatively straightforward work-related injury.

But suppose you are injured:

• Walking from the hotel to the conference;
• Riding transportation provided by the conference;
• During a scheduled meal;
• At an employer-sponsored conference event; or
• Returning to the hotel afterward.

Those situations require closer examination of whether the activity was reasonably related or incidental to the business trip.

Again, simply asking whether you were “on the clock” may not answer the question.

Recommended Reading: What If I was Off the Clock at the time of my Work Injury?

What If I Do Something Personal While I Am Out of Town?

Being on a business trip does not give you workers’ compensation coverage twenty-four hours a day for everything you choose to do.

Suppose your employer sends you to Nashville for work.  After finishing for the day, you decide to drive a substantial distance away from the hotel to visit an old friend, or you take a lengthy side trip for sightseeing that has nothing to do with your work.

An injury occurring during a substantial personal departure may fall outside the course of employment.

Alabama law recognizes that a substantial deviation from the employer’s business for a personal objective can take an employee outside the course of employment.  For example, in Havelin v. Poole Truck Lines, Inc., 395 So. 2d 75 (Ala. Civ. App. 1980), a truck driver substantially departed from his assigned business route for personal reasons contrary to his employer’s instructions. The court held that the employee was outside the course of his employment during that substantial personal deviation.

The important distinction is between an activity reasonably incidental to being away from home for work and abandoning the work-related travel to pursue a separate personal objective.

Recommended Reading: What Does “Arising Out of and In the Course of Employment” Mean?

What If the Personal Errand Ends and I Return to My Work Trip?

The analysis may change again.  Suppose you make a personal deviation during an out-of-town assignment.  You complete the personal errand, you then return to the business route and resume traveling toward your hotel, customer, job site, or other work destination.

An accident occurs afterward.

The fact that you previously engaged in a personal activity does not necessarily mean you remain outside the course of employment forever.  Alabama courts recognize that an employee may return to the course of employment after a personal deviation ends and the employee resumes the employer’s business.

That makes the timing and location of the injury extremely important.

Recommended Reading: I Ran a Personal Errand When I Was Injured While Driving for Work—Am I Still Covered?

What If I Stay an Extra Day for Personal Reasons?

Suppose your employer sends you to a conference ending Friday afternoon.

Your employer would have paid for you to return Friday evening.  Instead, you decide to stay through Sunday for a personal vacation.  An injury on Saturday while sightseeing presents a very different workers’ compensation question from an injury during the required conference on Friday.

Likewise, the return trip may raise questions concerning when the personal portion of the trip ended and whether the employee had resumed employment-related travel.

These cases can depend heavily upon the particular facts.

What If My Spouse or Family Comes With Me?

Bringing your spouse or family on a business trip does not necessarily transform the entire trip into a personal vacation, but it can make the facts more important.

Suppose your employer requires you to attend a conference.  You would have made the trip regardless of whether your spouse accompanied you.  The business purpose remains.  But if you substantially alter or extend the trip for personal family activities, an injury during those activities may not be connected to the employment.

The question remains what you were doing when the injury occurred and why.

What If Another Person Causes My Injury While I Am Traveling?

An out-of-town job injury can also create a separate personal injury claim.

Suppose another driver causes an automobile collision.

Or a dangerous condition at a hotel causes you to fall.

Or defective equipment causes your injury at a customer’s facility.

Depending upon the circumstances, you may have:

A workers’ compensation claim because you were injured in the course of your employment.

And:

A personal injury claim against the person or business legally responsible for causing the injury.

Under § 25-5-11, Ala. Code 1975, Alabama law permits an employee in appropriate circumstances to pursue workers’ compensation benefits and a third-party claim arising from the same injury.

The two claims should be evaluated together because workers’ compensation may have reimbursement or subrogation rights against a third-party recovery.

Recommended Reading: Can I Have Both a Workers’ Compensation Claim and a Personal Injury Claim?

What If I Am Injured in Another State?

This deserves special attention.

Many employees assume: “If I got hurt in Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, or Mississippi, I can’t have an Alabama workers’ compensation claim.”

That is not necessarily true.  Alabama has a specific statute addressing injuries occurring outside the state.

Under § 25-5-35, Ala. Code 1975, an Alabama employee may, under certain circumstances, be entitled to Alabama workers’ compensation benefits even though the injury occurred in another state.  Among other things, the statute considers where the employee’s employment is principally localized and circumstances involving contracts of hire made in Alabama.

The statute also addresses employees whose duties require regular travel in more than one state.

This can become complicated because another state’s workers’ compensation law may also potentially apply, but the fact that the accident occurred outside Alabama should therefore not be the end of the inquiry.

Can I Receive Workers’ Compensation Benefits From Another State?

Potentially.

When an employee’s work crosses state lines, questions can arise concerning which state’s workers’ compensation system applies.  Section 25-5-35 specifically addresses both recovery for certain accidents occurring outside Alabama and the effect of compensation received under another state’s workers’ compensation law.

That means an employee injured outside Alabama should not simply assume: “I work for an Alabama company, so only Alabama law matters.” Nor should the employee assume: “I was injured outside Alabama, so Alabama law cannot apply.”

The employment relationship, where the employment is principally localized, where the employee was hired, the nature of the work, and the circumstances of the accident can all matter.

Report the Injury to Your Employer Even Though You Are Out of Town

Do not wait until you return home to decide whether the injury is serious enough to report.  If you are injured while traveling for work:

• Notify your employer promptly;
• Explain where you were;
• Explain what you were doing;
• Identify witnesses;
• Preserve travel records;
• Keep hotel and transportation information;
• Preserve texts, emails, work orders, and itineraries; and
• Obtain necessary medical treatment.

Travel records can become especially important if the insurance company later questions whether you were engaged in employment when the injury occurred.

An airline itinerary, hotel reservation, company email, conference registration, customer appointment, or supervisor’s text may help establish exactly why you were where you were when you got hurt.

Recommended Reading: My Boss said I waited too Long to Report my Job Injury.  What Does Notice really mean?

The Law

Under § 25-5-51, Ala. Code 1975, workers’ compensation benefits generally apply to covered injuries arising out of and in the course of employment.  Alabama courts have explained that an injury occurs in the course of employment when it occurs within the period of employment, at a place where the employee may reasonably be, while the employee is reasonably fulfilling employment duties or doing something incidental to those duties.

That principle can be particularly important when the employer’s business requires the employee to travel.

Alabama law also recognizes that substantial personal deviations can remove an employee from the course of employment. The particular facts—including the purpose of the trip, employer direction, payment of travel expenses, the employee’s activity when injured, and any personal deviation—can determine whether an injury is compensable.

Finally, § 25-5-35, Ala. Code 1975, specifically addresses circumstances in which Alabama workers’ compensation law may apply to injuries occurring outside the state.

The Bottom Line

If your employer sends you out of town and you are injured, do not assume that workers’ compensation stops when you leave the office, leave your hometown, or cross the Alabama state line.

Ask:

Why was I traveling?

Did my employer require the trip?

Was the employer paying for or arranging my travel?

Was I going to a customer, project, meeting, conference, or training program?

Was I staying at the hotel because my job required me to be away from home?

Was I engaged in an activity reasonably incidental to the business trip?

Had I departed from the business trip for a substantial personal reason?

If I had made a personal deviation, had it ended and had I resumed my work-related travel?

Those facts can determine whether your injury is covered.

The important question is not simply: “Was I at work when I got hurt?”

When your job requires you to travel, the better question may be: “Would I have been where I was—and doing what I was doing—if my employer had not sent me there?”

If the answer is no, there may be a significant connection between your injury and your employment.

Experience With Work-Related Travel and Out-of-State Injuries

At Powell & Denny, P.C., we have extensive experience handling Alabama workers’ compensation claims involving work-related travel, automobile accidents, temporary job assignments, and disputes over whether an employee was acting in the course of employment. When another driver, property owner, business, or other third party causes the injury, we also handle related personal injury claims. Evaluating both claims together can be especially important when an employee is injured while traveling away from home for work.

If you have suffered a job injury and you have questions about your rights and benefits under Alabama’s workers compensation or personal injury (negligence, wantonness, general tort) laws -don’t hesitate to contact and speak with one of the experienced attorneys at Powell and Denny today for a free consultation. Appointments are available in person, or virtually via Zoom if more convenient.  Powell and Denny would appreciate the opportunity to help.  And remember, there is no fee unless you win.