North Little Rock School District v. Lybarger

308 S.W.3d 651, 2009 Ark. App. 330, 2009 Ark. App. LEXIS 368
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedApril 29, 2009
DocketCA 08-1149
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 308 S.W.3d 651 (North Little Rock School District v. Lybarger) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
North Little Rock School District v. Lybarger, 308 S.W.3d 651, 2009 Ark. App. 330, 2009 Ark. App. LEXIS 368 (Ark. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

JOSEPHINE LINKER HART, Judge.

| Appellants North Little Rock School District and its insurance carrier appeal from the Arkansas Workers’ Compensation Commission’s finding that ap-pellee Cindy Lybarger sustained a com-pensable injury during the course of her employment. Particularly, appellants argue that Lybarger was not performing employment services at the time of her injury. We conclude that substantial evidence supports the Commission’s decision, and accordingly, we affirm.

For the purposes of workers’ compensation, a compensable injury must “aris[e] out of and in the course of employment.” Ark.Code Ann. § ll-9-102(4)(A)(i) (Supp.2007). A compensable injury, however, does not include an “[ijnjury which was inflicted upon the employee at a time when employment services were not being performed.” Ark.Code Ann. |2§ 11-9-102(4)(B)(iii). The same test is used to determine whether an employee was “in the course of employment” and performing “employment services.” Texarkana Sch. Dist. v. Conner, 373 Ark. 372, 284 S.W.3d 57 (2008). Specifically, the test is whether the injury occurred within the time and space boundaries of the employment when the employee was carrying out the employer’s purpose or advancing the employer’s interest, directly or indirectly. Id. On appeal, we affirm the Commission’s decision if it is supported by substantial evidence. Id.

As Lybarger testified at the hearing, she is employed as a teacher’s aide assigned to Boone Park Elementary. On September 27, 2007, she was required to attend a staff development day at the Lakewood campus, a few miles away. She arrived at 8:00 a.m., and the meeting was adjourned around 11:00 a.m. She and others were “given a lunchtime, and then we had to report back to our building [Boone Park Elementary] for meetings after lunch.” She noted that she “normally just eat[s] in her car.” While en route to the parking lot to her car, she exited the building where the meeting was held and was entering another building when she broke her right leg while climbing stairs. She stated that she felt she was “on duty” when she fell, because she was “still on school property” and had not yet reached her car. When asked about the obligations she had for the district, she stated that she was an employee of the school district, and “if there had been any children, if there had been any parents, if there had been anything that had been asked of me, I mean, it’s possible, you know, to still be there.” She agreed that it was “[k]ind of like how the teacher or employee [¡¡of the school district assisted” her after she fell. She also testified that when she was going up the stairs, she was carrying her purse and handouts from the meetings that morning.

On cross-examination, she acknowledged that when she was released to go to lunch, it was her free time. Further, she stated that the meeting was over at Lakewood and that she had to go to Boone Park after an hour to work. She also acknowledged that there were no students or parents present, only teachers and aides. On redirect, she stated that at either campus she “would perform the same thing if ... I was approached.” She also agreed that if she had not been at the staff development day, she would not have had any handouts in her hand.

Before the administrative law judge (ALJ), the parties litigated whether Ly-barger was performing employment services at the time of her injury. The ALJ found Lybarger to be an “extremely credible witness” and concluded that Lybarger was performing employment services. Specifically, the ALJ noted that Lybarger “was at a school campus miles away from where she normally conducted her job duties.” The ALJ found that Lybarger “would never have been on the campus of Lakewood Junior High but for the staff development seminar which her employer required her to attend.” The ALJ observed that the “mere fact that [Lybarger] was at Lakewood Campus fulfilling her job requirements leads this examiner to find that she was in fact directly advancing her employer’s interest,” and that Lybarger “credibly testified she never made it to her ear to go to lunch.” The ALJ found that the “very fact that [Lybarger] was on a foreign campus attending a work required seminar that she was 14directly performing an employment service.” The ALJ also noted that had Lybarger “reached her car and proceeded to go eat lunch, there could be doubt as to whether employment services were being performed,” but that in this ease it was “clear that employment services were being performed.... ” Further, the ALJ found that Lybarger “had never began her lunch break while on the foreign campus.” The Commission adopted the ALJ’s opinion.

On appeal, appellants argue that Lybar-ger was not performing employment services, because she was not advancing her employer’s interest or doing anything required by her employer when she fell. Appellants assert that she was merely on her employer’s premises on her lunch break and free to do as she pleased. Appellant contends that the “going and coming” rule precludes an award of benefits in this case.

We recently noted that the “going and coming” rule ordinarily precluded recovery for an injury sustained while the employee was going to or returning from his place of employment, because an employee is generally not acting within the course of employment when traveling to and from the workplace. CV’s Family Foods v. Caverly, 2009 Ark. App. 114, 304 S.W.3d 671. The ultimate question, however, is whether the injury occurred within the time and space boundaries of the employment, when the employee was carrying out the employer’s purpose or advancing the employer’s interest directly or indirectly. Id.

Substantial evidence supports the Commission’s conclusion that Lybarger was performing employment services. Initially, we note that Lybarger testified that she was attending a seminar at the Lakewood campus, and that because she was still on school |Bgrounds she was on duty and that her obligation as a district employee on school grounds was to provide assistance if there had been anything asked of her. See Texarkana Sch. Dist. v. Conner, 373 Ark. 372, 284 S.W.3d 57 (2008) (affirming award of benefits in an employment services case where the Arkansas Supreme Court noted that the Commission credited the school employee’s testimony that he was on call once he returned to the school district’s premises, even if he was on lunch break); Foster v. Express Personnel Services, 93 Ark.App. 496, 222 S.W.3d 218 (2006) (reversing a denial of benefits after finding that the employee was performing employment services by virtue of the fact that she was on the job once she was on the premises). She also testified that when she was going up the stairs, she was carrying material from the meetings and would not have had any handouts in her hand if she had not been at the staff development day. Further, while Lybarger acknowledged that she was released to go to lunch and that it was her free time, she also testified that after lunch, she had to report back to Boone Park Elementary, a campus a few miles away. Her purpose in going to Boone Park Elementary, the campus to which she was assigned, was to attend additional meetings.

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Bluebook (online)
308 S.W.3d 651, 2009 Ark. App. 330, 2009 Ark. App. LEXIS 368, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/north-little-rock-school-district-v-lybarger-arkctapp-2009.