Workers Comp Benefits Available to Employee Injured after Quitting

 

December 11, 2017

 

The Supreme Court of Tennessee, Special Workers Compensation Appeals Panel, at Jackson, decided last month that an employee was entitled to workers compensation benefits, where the employee verbally informed her supervisor that she was quitting her job and subsequently fell on the way out of the workplace. The case is Duck v. Cox Oil Co., No. W2016-02261-SC-WCM-WC, 2017 Tenn. LEXIS 734 (Nov. 21, 2017).

 

Melissa Duck (Employee) worked as a clerk at a convenience store, Cox Oil Co. During work one day the employee verbally informed her supervisor that she was quitting. Employee turned to leave the premises and fell on her way out of the store. She later complained of injuries she suffered from the fall and sought workers' compensation benefits. The employer denied the claim relying on the fact that Ms. Duck had terminated her own employment prior to the injuries and the employment relationship had expired, so no injuries had occurred during the “course and scope of employment”. The district court granted a summary judgment in favor of Cox Oil, and Ms. Duck eventually appealed to the Tennessee Supreme Court, who referred the claim to the Special Workers Compensation Appeals Panel.

 

The Special Workers Compensation Appeals Panel decided, in accordance with the majority jurisdictional opinion that an injury received while an employee is arriving to or leaving from work is compensable. In this instance, though, the question becomes whether or not Duck was an employee for workers compensation purposes. The Panel also followed the majority view on that issue, stating that an employee whose employment is terminated remains covered for a reasonable amount of time for the termination to be effective, including for gathering personal items and leaving the premises. The Panel determined that because Duck quickly gathered her things and attempted to leave the premises, and sustained injuries while doing so, she was still covered under workers compensation benefits although she had previously terminated her employment.

 

Editor's Note:

As stated above, the majority of courts have decided that injuries sustained by an employee while arriving and leaving the workplace are compensable, generally because leaving the workplace is incidental to the employment relationship, particularly if the injury is compensable and occurs while leaving the premises within a reasonable time after termination. Several states have expanded this coverage to certain injuries that occur while leaving or returning to their former place of employment to resolve any issues resulting from their termination.