Hoffmann v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board

711 A.2d 567, 1998 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 269
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedApril 22, 1998
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 711 A.2d 567 (Hoffmann v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hoffmann v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board, 711 A.2d 567, 1998 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 269 (Pa. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinions

JIULIANTE, Senior Judge.

Claimant Nannie G. Hoffmann petitions for review from the September 2, 1997 order of the Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (Board) that affirmed the workers’ compensation judge’s (WCJ) denial of benefits based on the finding that Claimant was not within the scope of her employment at the time she sustained her injury. We affirm.

Employer Westmoreland Hospital employed Claimant as a unit clerk/unit secretary.1 (Finding of Fact No. 7, R.R. at 51a). As part of her work schedule, Claimant had Fridays off. (Finding of Fact No. 7, R.R. at 54a).

Employer pays its employees on a bimonthly basis and always on Fridays. (Id.) Employer gives its employees three options to obtain their paychecks. Employees can have their paychecks directly deposited into a financial institution, can provide Employer with a self-addressed stamped envelope, or can personally pick up their paychecks at their normal workstations. (Finding of Fact No. 9, R.R. at 85a). Employer encourages its employees to use direct deposit. (Id.).

On her day off, Friday, August 20, 1993, Claimant went to Employer’s premises for the sole purpose of picking up her paycheck. (Finding of Fact No. 7, R.R. at 67a). Claimant did not perform any work-related tasks while on Employer’s premises on August 20, 1993. (Id.). As Claimant was approaching the nurses’ station, she fell and sustained injuries to her knees, left hand and low back. (Finding of Fact No. 7, R.R. at 56a).

On January 24,1994, Claimant filed a petition for workers’ compensation benefits for the injuries she sustained on August 20, 1993. (Finding of Fact No. 1, R.R. at 4a). Employer filed a timely response, denying that Claimant was in the scope of her employment when she suffered her alleged work-related injuries. (Finding of Fact No. 3, R.R. at 12a).

The WCJ held hearings on Claimant’s petition on April 12 and October 11, 1994. During the course of litigation, the parties stipulated that Claimant had suffered an injury to her low back on August 20,1993. Therefore, the only remaining legal issue presented before the WCJ was whether Claimant was in the course and scope of her employment at the time of her injury.

After a review of all the evidence, the WCJ concluded that Claimant had failed to meet her burden of proof in establishing that she suffered a work-related injury while within the scope of her employment. (Finding of Fact No. 13, R.R. at 21a). Additionally, the WCJ concluded that Employer had a reasonable basis to contest Claimant’s petition and that therefore, Claimant was liable for her own attorney fees. (Id.). The Board affirmed the WCJ on appeal and this petition for review followed.2

[569]*569The issue on appeal is whether Claimant was acting within the course and scope of her employment at the time of her injury. Whether an employee is within the course of her employment when an injury occurs is a question of law to be determined on the basis of the findings of fact. Thomas Jefferson University Hospital v. Workmen’s Compensation Appeal Board (Cattalo), 144 Pa.Cmwlth. 302, 601 A.2d 476 (1991).

Section 301(c)(1) of the Workers’ Compensation Act (the Act)3 states, in pertinent part, that

[t]he term “injury arising in the course of his employment,” as used in this article, ... shall include all other injuries sustained while the employe is actually engaged in the furtherance of the business or affairs of the employer, whether upon the employer’s premises or elsewhere, and shall include all injuries caused by the condition of the premises or by operation of the employer’s business or affairs thereon, sustained by the employe, who, though not so engaged, is injured upon the premises occupied by or under the control of the employer, or upon which the employer’s business or affairs are being carried on, the employe’s presence thereon being required by the nature of his employment.

77 P.S. § 411.

An employee not engaged in the furtherance of the business or affairs of the employer must satisfy three conditions under the Act in order for her injury to be within the scope of employment. Those conditions, as set forth in Dana Corporation v. Workmen’s Compensation Appeal Board (Gearhart), 120 Pa.Cmwlth. 277, 548 A.2d 669 (1988), petition for allowance of appeal denied, 522 Pa. 606, 562 A.2d 828 (1989), require that (1) the injury occur on the employer’s premises, (2) the employee’s presence thereon was required by the nature of his employment, and (3) the injury was caused by the condition of the premises or by the operation of the employer’s business thereon. At issue in the present case is whether Claimant’s presence on the premises was required by the nature of her employment.

There is a lack of reported Pennsylvania cases that address this situation. We have found two. In Griffin v. Acme Coal Company, 161 Pa.Super. 28, 54 A.2d 69 (1947), claimant reported to Acme Coal Company on his day off for the purpose of receiving his pay. While waiting where payment was customarily made, claimant fell over a board and sustained serious injuries. The Superior Court affirmed an award of benefits to claimant, stating that it was customary and necessary for the employees to visit employer’s office on its premises to collect their pay on the scheduled payday. The Court stated that claimant was acting in accordance with the practices established by employer and thus, claimant was in the course of his employment.

Interestingly, the Griffin Court went on to further state that

[ajdequate provision for making payment to employees is an inescapable duty of every employer. The right of an employee to receive the wages which he has earned, and to which he is entitled is an integral part of every contract of hiring. In the present case, there was no other provision excepting for claimant to go directly to defendant’s office at the mine on its premises and there secure his pay.

Griffin, 54 A.2d at 70. This language implies that an alternate method of pay distribution would not necessarily require the employee’s presence on the employer’s premises. Therefore, the employee would not be required by the nature of the employment to be on the premises and thus, any resulting injury would not be compensable under the Act.

A second case addressing this issue is Dandy v. Glaze, 197 Pa.Super. 218, 177 A.2d 157 (1962). In Dandy, employer established a practice whereby employees would be paid at the completion of their assignments. Employees were to pick up their pay at one of two places; on employer’s premises or in [570]*570front of the outside of a bar across the street. Employees were to remain at one of these locations for a reasonable period of time for employer to return. Dandy disregarded these instructions and instead went into the bar where he stayed for 2$—3 hours. Upon leaving the bar, Dandy was stuck by an automobile while attempting to cross the street to return to employer’s premises.

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Related

Hoffman v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board
741 A.2d 1286 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1999)
PEC Contracting Engineers v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board
717 A.2d 1086 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1998)
Hoffmann v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board
711 A.2d 567 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1998)

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Bluebook (online)
711 A.2d 567, 1998 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 269, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hoffmann-v-workers-compensation-appeal-board-pacommwct-1998.