Schultz v. Workers’ Compensation Appeals Bd.
Annotate this CaseSchultz sought workers’ compensation benefits after suffering injuries in a traffic accident while driving his personal vehicle at Edwards Air Force Base where he worked for JT3. The Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board denied benefits. The court of appeal annulled the denial. Under the “going and coming rule” workers’ compensation benefits are generally not available for injuries suffered by an employee during a local commute to a fixed place of business at fixed hours, because the injury does not occur during the ordinary course of employment. However, the ordinary course of employment is deemed to commence when an employee enters the employer’s premises (the premises line rule); at that point, the going and coming rule does not bar workers’ compensation liability. In this case, the employee was working on a secure base not generally open to the public, entered the base in his personal vehicle after passing a gate using an employer-issued security pass, and had travelled one mile inside the base when the accident occurred. Although Schultz worked at a fixed location, the employer had multiple locations on the base and he travelled sometimes in his own vehicle, as needed, throughout the base to perform assigned work.