What If My Employer Sent Me on a Special Errand on My Way to Work, or on My Way Home?

What If My Employer Sent Me on a Special Errand on My Way to Work, or on My Way Home?

When a Trip To or From Work May Still Be Covered by Alabama Workers’ Compensation

You have finished your workday and are ready to go home.  Just before you leave, your supervisor says:  “Can you stop by the supply house and pick something up on your way home?”

Or maybe you are at home when your employer calls and asks you to return to the workplace.

Perhaps you are told to deliver paperwork, pick up equipment, meet a customer, or go to a different job site than usual.  Then, while making that trip, you are injured in a car accident.

You may naturally wonder: “Was I just commuting, or was I still working?”  Under Alabama workers’ compensation law, that distinction can matter a great deal.

An ordinary trip to or from work is generally not covered by workers’ compensation, but when your employer sends you on a special errand, special mission, or other trip that furthers the employer’s business, the travel may become part of your employment.

Recommended Reading: I Was Hurt Going to or Coming Home From Work—Is My Injury Covered by Alabama Workers’ Compensation? The Going and Coming Rule generally excludes an ordinary commute, but Alabama law recognizes important exceptions.

What Is a Special Errand?

“Special errand” is lawyer language.  Most injured workers would describe it much more simply: “My boss asked me to go somewhere for work.”

That is the basic idea.

A special errand may occur when an employer asks an employee to make a trip that is outside the employee’s ordinary commute or normal work routine for the benefit of the employer.  Examples may include:

• Picking up supplies before work;
• Delivering documents after work;
• Returning to the workplace after hours;
• Going to an emergency service call;
• Traveling to a temporary or unusual job site;
• Picking up equipment;
• Meeting a customer away from the normal workplace; or
• Performing another task that requires travel for the employer’s benefit.

The important point is that the trip itself may become part of the work.

Why Is This Different From an Ordinary Commute?

Ordinarily, getting yourself to and from work is considered a personal responsibility; that is the basic reasoning behind Alabama’s Going and Coming Rule.

But when the employer creates a special reason for the trip, the analysis may change.

Suppose you normally drive directly from your office to your home at the end of the day.  One afternoon, your supervisor asks you to deliver documents to a customer before going home.  You leave the office, make the delivery, and are injured while traveling.

That trip is not necessarily the same as your ordinary commute as your employer has asked you to perform an additional task for its benefit.  The travel may therefore be sufficiently connected to your employment to support workers’ compensation coverage.

A Simple Example

Imagine two employees who leave work at 5:00 p.m.

Employee One

Employee One drives directly home, just as she does every day.  Another driver causes a collision.  Unless an exception applies, that is generally an ordinary commute and may fall outside workers’ compensation.

Employee Two

Before leaving, Employee Two is told: “Take this package to our customer across town before you go home.” The employee agrees and begins the trip. Another driver causes a collision while the employee is traveling to the customer.

That employee may have a much stronger workers’ compensation argument because the employer created a special work-related purpose for the trip.

Same time of day.

Both employees were technically “leaving work.”

But the legal analysis may be very different.

What If My Employer Calls Me Back to Work?

This is another common special-errand situation.  Suppose you have already gone home and later that evening, your supervisor calls and says: “We have an emergency. I need you to come back in.”

You leave home and are injured on the way.

That is very different from your normal morning commute.  The employer has created a special trip outside the ordinary work schedule for the employer’s benefit.  Depending on the facts, that travel may be considered part of the employment.

What If I Was Sent Somewhere Before My Shift Started?

The same principle may apply before work.  Suppose you normally report directly to a warehouse at 7:00 a.m.  Your supervisor texts you the night before: “Stop at the supplier and pick up these parts before you come in.”  You leave home the next morning and are injured while driving to the supplier.

The insurance company may argue: “You hadn’t even clocked in yet.”

But clocking in is not necessarily the deciding factor.  The more important question may be whether the employer had already directed you to perform a work-related task.

Recommended Reading: What Does It Mean for an Injury to “Arise Out of and Occur in the Ordinary Course of Employment”?

Recommended Reading: What if I was Off the Clock When I was Injured?

What If the Special Errand Was on My Way Home Anyway?

This can make the facts more complicated, but it does not automatically defeat the claim.

Suppose the employer asks you to drop off documents at a location only a few blocks from your normal route home.  The fact that the errand happens to be convenient does not necessarily make it personal.

The question remains whether the employer’s business was a real reason for the trip.  In other words: Would you have been making that stop if your employer had not asked you to?

If the answer is no, that fact may support the argument that the special errand was part of your employment.

What If the Errand Takes Me in the Opposite Direction?

That may make the work connection even clearer.  Suppose your home is north of the office.  Your employer asks you to deliver something twenty miles south before going home.

The employer has now required you to make a separate trip for business purposes. If you are injured while performing that assignment, the argument that you were merely commuting becomes much weaker.

Does It Matter Whether I Was Paid for the Travel?

Payment can be important, but it is not necessarily the only factor.  If your employer pays:

• Travel time;
• Mileage;
• A per diem;
• Gas expenses; or
• Other travel expenses,

that may support the conclusion that the journey was part of your employment.

But an unpaid trip can still potentially be work-related if the employer required the travel as part of a special assignment.  The entire relationship between the trip and the job must be considered.

Does It Matter Whether I Was Driving a Company Vehicle?

Not necessarily.  A company vehicle may be evidence that the trip was work-related, but vehicle ownership does not determine the issue by itself.  You may be driving:

• A company truck;
• Your personal vehicle;
• A rental car; or
• A coworker’s vehicle.

The better question is: Why were you traveling?

If the employer sent you somewhere for its business, the fact that you were using your own car does not automatically defeat workers’ compensation coverage.

What If I Made a Personal Stop During the Special Errand?

This introduces another issue: deviation from employment.

Suppose your employer sends you to deliver documents.

On the way, you stop briefly for gas.

That may be incidental to the work trip.

Now suppose you drive ten miles out of the way to go shopping.

That may be a much more significant personal deviation.

The analysis may turn on:

• How far you departed from the work route;
• Why you stopped;
• How long the personal activity lasted;
• Whether you had completed the personal errand;
• Whether you had resumed the employer’s business when the accident occurred.

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

What If the Special Errand Is Also Something I Wanted to Do Personally?

Sometimes a trip serves both purposes.

Suppose your employer asks you to drop off paperwork at a bank.

You also need to make a personal deposit at the same bank.

Now the trip benefits both you and your employer.

This is sometimes analyzed under what lawyers call the dual-purpose doctrine.

The question becomes whether the employer’s business was a genuine reason for the trip, not merely incidental to a journey you would have made anyway.

These cases can become very fact-specific.

What If Another Driver Caused the Accident?

If another driver negligently causes the collision while you are performing a special errand, you may have two separate claims.

You may have a workers’ compensation claim because the trip was work-related.

You may also have a personal injury claim against the negligent driver.

Those claims involve different benefits and different legal rules.

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

What If I Was the Passenger?

You do not have to be the driver for the special-errand rule to matter.

Suppose your employer tells you and a coworker to deliver equipment to another location.

Your coworker drives.

You ride as the passenger.

An accident occurs.

The question is still whether the travel was part of the employer’s business.

Recommended Reading: What If I Was Injured While Riding as a Passenger for Work? and I was Hit by Another Driver while Working-Do I have a Workers’ Compensation claim and a Car Accident Claim?

What Evidence Can Help Prove It Was a Special Errand?

These cases often turn on ordinary evidence.  Useful evidence may include:

• Text messages from a supervisor;
• Emails;
• Work orders;
• Delivery instructions;
• Customer appointments;
• Dispatch records;
• Time records;
• Mileage records;
• Receipts;
• GPS data;
• Witness testimony; and
• The employer’s policies regarding travel or after-hours assignments.

For example, a text stating: “Please take this to the customer before you go home” may become very important evidence months later if the insurance company claims you were simply commuting.

Preserve those records.

The Law

Under § 25-5-51, Ala. Code 1975, a compensable injury generally must arise out of and occur in the course of employment.  Alabama’s Going and Coming Rule generally excludes injuries occurring during an employee’s ordinary commute, but Alabama appellate courts recognize exceptions when the travel itself is sufficiently connected to the employer’s business, including situations involving special errands or missions.

One important Alabama decision is Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc. v. Smallwood, 516 So. 2d 716 (Ala. Civ. App. 1987), in which the Court of Civil Appeals discussed the special-errand doctrine and whether the employee’s travel was sufficiently connected to the employment.

The inquiry is highly fact-dependent.

The important questions include why the trip was made, whether the employer directed or benefited from the travel, whether the trip was outside the employee’s ordinary routine, and what the employee was doing when the injury occurred.

The Bottom Line

If your employer sends you somewhere before work, after work, or during what would otherwise be your normal commute, do not automatically assume an accident during that trip is excluded from Alabama workers’ compensation.

The question is not simply: “Was I going to work or going home?”

The better question is: “Did my employer give me a special work-related reason for making this trip?”

If the employer directed you to perform an errand, make a delivery, pick up supplies, return after hours, or travel somewhere for the employer’s benefit, the trip may be considered part of your employment.

And if another driver or third party caused the accident, you may also have a separate personal injury claim.

Experience With Work-Related Travel Claims

At Powell & Denny, P.C., we have extensive experience representing injured workers in Alabama workers’ compensation claims and related third-party personal injury claims. When the same accident creates both claims, it is important to understand how they work together. Medical evidence, settlement decisions, workers’ compensation subrogation rights, and other issues in one claim can directly affect the other. Our experience handling both workers’ compensation and personal injury cases allows us to evaluate the entire case—not just one part of it—and work to protect all of the benefits and compensation available to our clients.

If you believe you have a workers compensation and also a personal injury claim against another party-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.