Peterson v. Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board

597 A.2d 1116, 528 Pa. 279, 1991 Pa. LEXIS 208
CourtSupreme Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedOctober 7, 1991
Docket17 W.D. Appeal Docket 1990
StatusPublished
Cited by71 cases

This text of 597 A.2d 1116 (Peterson v. Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Peterson v. Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board, 597 A.2d 1116, 528 Pa. 279, 1991 Pa. LEXIS 208 (Pa. 1991).

Opinions

OPINION OF THE COURT

PAPADAKOS, Justice.

This is an appeal from an order of the Commonwealth Court affirming the order of the Worker’s Compensation Appeal Board (Board), dismissing the claim of Appellant, JoAnn Peterson, for worker’s compensation benefits. The Appellant, a licensed practical nurse employed by the Appellee, PRN Nursing Agency (PRN), fractured her left leg and left ankle in an automobile accident on September 19, 1980, while travelling to her assigned workplace.

Following four separate evidentiary hearings, a worker’s compensation referee awarded the Appellant worker’s compensation benefits, as provided in the Pennsylvania Worker’s Compensation Act (Act) 77 P.S. § 1, et seq., after he concluded that the Appellant was in the course of her duties when the accident occurred. Therefore, as a conclusion of law, he determined that the claimant was entitled to total disability benefits commencing September 19, 1980, and continuing indefinitely into the future.

The Appellee appealed to the Board which determined that the Referee’s “Findings of Fact” were, in actuality, “Conclusions of Law” and concluded that the Appellant was not entitled to total disability. It remanded the case for the fact-finding function to be completed.

To save time and expense, the parties certified the prior record and exhibits. The referee reviewed the prior record and all additional testimony, including the deposition of Gina M. Blakeley, Appellant’s supervisor and a twenty percent shareholder in PRN. Thereafter, he framed his [282]*282own findings of fact and conclusions of law which we have summarized below. The Appellee, PRN Nursing Agency, although it is not a health care provider, entered into agreements with various hospitals, nursing homes, and private individuals, for the purpose of supplying registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, and nursing assistants, to those parties as their needs arose. At its office in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Appellee maintained its records, received telephone calls from institutions and individuals requesting its staff, and dispatched its employees to various locations throughout the Allegheny County area. Appellee did not require its employees to report to its office for assignment; instead, Appellee would contact its employees at their homes, one week in advance of the assignment, to inquire as to whether they were interested in accepting a work assignment. When an employee accepted a work assignment, Appellee instructed the employee where to report for work, when to report to work, and to arrive in uniform.

Moreover, the Appellee did not provide transportation to the work-place, it did not reimburse its employees for their travel expenses, and it did not include time spent commuting to and from an assigned workplace in the computation of an employee’s gross wages. Employees were paid an hourly rate, calculated from the time they signed in at the assigned work-place to the time they signed out of that work-place. Work hours were totaled by the work-place and forwarded to the Appellee, who used those figures to compute an employee’s gross wages. The Appellee paid its employees by check, after it made the necessary deductions.

The Appellee contacted the Appellant and asked if she would work a new assignment on September 19, 1980, at Montefiore Hospital — the 11:00 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. shift — and she accepted. The Appellee did not instruct the Appellant to make any stops, to deliver any messages, to pick up any materials, or to perform any service on behalf of PRN prior to reporting to work at Montefiore. In fact, Appellant was free to select any route to and from her worksite.

[283]*283On or about September 23, 1980, the Appellant informed the Appellee that she had been involved in an accident, she was injured, and she would be unable to work; however, she failed to advise Appellee that her injuries were related to her employment, or that her injuries were incurred in the course of her employment. As a consequence, the Appellee did not file an Employer’s Report of Injury. Notice, that this was a work related injury, did not come until the Appellant filed her claim petition on October 8, 1982, a date greater than two years following the automobile accident. Based on this evidence, the referee found:

1) ... [T]he [Appellant] failed to give notice of any work-related injury within 120 days of said injury as required by Section 311 of the Act;
2) ... [T]he [Appellant] failed to inform her employer of any injury as is required by Section 312 of the Act;
3) ... [T]he [Appellant] was not acting within the scope of her employment at the time of her injury on September 19, 1980;
4) The [Appellant] was not in any way acting in the furtherance of her employer’s business at the time of her injury on September 19, 1980; and,
5) The [Appellant] did not suffer an injury during the course of her employment with the defendant on September 19, 1980, and therefore, is not entitled to compensation benefits.

(Referee’s decision, January 28, 1986.) The claim was then dismissed. (Id.) Appellant appealed to the Board for review.

Gina Blakeley testified that the Appellant called the Appellee’s offices on Monday September 22, 1980, to inform it that she had been in an auto accident and that the accident occurred while she was en route to Montefiore Hospital. Section 631 states the following in regard to notice:

Unless an employer shall have knowledge of the occurrence of the injury ... no compensation shall be due until such notice be given, and, unless such notice be given [284]*284within one hundred and twenty days after the occurrence of the injury, no compensation shall be allowed.

77 P.S. § 631. This uncontradicted evidence established the Appellant’s allegation that she gave her employer notice of the accident well within the 120 day period. The Board reversed the referee’s decision, because it found the above testimony to be irreconcilable with the referee’s findings of fact.

Next, the Board considered' whether, or not, the Appellant was injured within the scope of her employment. The general rule is that an employer is not liable to the employee for compensation for injuries received off the employer’s premise while the employee is travelling to or from work. Eberle v. Union Dental Co., 390 Pa. 112, 134 A.2d 559 (1957); Butrin v. Manion Steel Co., 361 Pa. 166, 63 A.2d 345 (1949); Hohman v. George H. Soffel Co., 354 Pa. 31, 46 A.2d 475 (1946). The question, whether an injury to a worker is sustained in the course of his or her employment, as contemplated by the Act, is one of law. Hohman, supra.

While acknowledging the general rule, the Appellant argues that her conduct fits within one of the exceptions of the rule recognized by the Commonwealth Court in Setley v. Workmen’s Compensation Appeal Board, 69 Pa.Commonwealth Ct. 241, 451 A.2d 10 (1982). Setley

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Hartford Ins. Grp. ex rel. Chunli Chen v. Kamara
199 A.3d 841 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2018)
Hartford Ins. Grp. Ex Rel. Chen v. Kamara
197 A.3d 229 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2018)
Whitmoyer v. Workers' Comp. Appeal Bd.
186 A.3d 947 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2018)
Kush v. Workers' Comp. Appeal Bd.
186 A.3d 1047 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 2018)
Schriver v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board
176 A.3d 459 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 2017)
Harrison v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board (Commonwealth of Pennsylvania)
165 A.3d 1019 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 2017)
Pipeline Systems, Inc. v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board
120 A.3d 397 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 2015)
Holler v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board
104 A.3d 68 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 2014)
PPL v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board
92 A.3d 1276 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 2014)
O'Rourke v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board
83 A.3d 1125 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 2014)
Phoenixville Hospital v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board
81 A.3d 830 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2013)
Mansfield Bros. Painting v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board
72 A.3d 842 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 2013)
Steckel v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board
53 A.3d 946 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 2012)
Giant Eagle, Inc. v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board
39 A.3d 287 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2012)
Bufford v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board
2 A.3d 548 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2010)
Kelly v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board
992 A.2d 845 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2010)
MacKey v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board
989 A.2d 404 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 2010)
Jamison v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board
955 A.2d 494 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 2008)
Griffiths v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board
943 A.2d 242 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2008)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
597 A.2d 1116, 528 Pa. 279, 1991 Pa. LEXIS 208, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/peterson-v-workmens-compensation-appeal-board-pa-1991.