Social or Recreational Activity and WC

July 25, 2016

An employee was attending a party sponsored by his employer after working hours. The employer catered food and soft drinks but no alcoholic beverages. However, some employees purchased beer and alcohol and set up an area outside the employer's building on the public sidewalk for the employees to drink if they chose to do so. After drinking several bottles of beer, the employee got into a fight with another employee and was seriously injured. The injuries kept the employee from returning to work. The employee then sought workers compensation benefits.

Is the injured employee entitled to WC benefits considering his injuries probably arose from drinking alcohol?

Wyoming Subscriber

Various courts have held that in order to determine whether an employee's participation in social or recreational activities is job-related, the following items should be considered: whether the activities occur on the employer's premises during a social or recreational period as a regular incident of employment; or, whether the employer, by expressly or impliedly requiring participation or by making the activity part of the services of the employee brings that activity within the orbit of employment; or, whether the employer derives substantial direct benefit from the activity beyond the intangible value of improvement in the employee health and morale that is common to all kinds of recreation and social life.

Based on your description of the incident, the employer did not sponsor the drinking of alcohol or serve alcohol, and the actual drinking and fight occurred on a public area, not in the employer's building. Moreover, the employer certainly did not derive any benefit from the drinking and fighting among employees. It is our opinion that the employee was not injured as a result of employment; that is, there was no causal connection between the employment and the injury and the injury did not arise out of and in the course of employment. So, the employee should not receive WC benefits.