SAIF Corp. v. Tono

336 P.3d 565, 265 Or. App. 525
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedSeptember 17, 2014
Docket1200495; A153393
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 336 P.3d 565 (SAIF Corp. v. Tono) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
SAIF Corp. v. Tono, 336 P.3d 565, 265 Or. App. 525 (Or. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

LAGESEN, J.

The question in this case is whether ORS 656.039(5) limits the workers’ compensation coverage available to a home care worker funded by the state on behalf of the client to only those injuries suffered by the worker while performing state-funded activities — as distinguished from those activities not funded by the state — for the client. We conclude that it does not.

I. BACKGROUND

This case arises on SAIF Corporation’s (SAIF’s) petition for judicial review of an order of the Workers’ Compensation Board (board). The pertinent facts are not disputed.1 Claimant is a home care worker within the meaning of ORS 410.600.2 At the time of her injury, she was employed by her client/employer through a program administered, in part, by the State of Oregon Department of Human Services (DHS). As part of that program, a DHS Case Manager generated a “Service Plan” for claimant’s client/employer and an associated “Task List” for claimant. The “Service Plan” and “Task List” set forth the number of home care service hours for which claimant’s home care client/employer was eligible under the program and identified the tasks for which the claimant would be compensated. Claimant’s Task List for her client/employer provided, among other things, that she was to assist the client with “moving around outside,” [527]*527“[p]lacing food/utensils within reach,” “[b]reakfast [preparation,” and “get [ting] in/out of a vehicle.” The Task List did not specifically authorize claimant to transport the client/ employer or to conduct any services for the client/employer away from the client/employer’s home. Under the DHS program, claimant’s client/employer was her employer, and was responsible for hiring claimant, directing claimant’s work, and, ultimately, firing claimant. However, claimant was paid through DHS for providing the services on the Task List.

One morning, after claimant had performed some services on the Task List, the client/employer requested that claimant take her out for breakfast because the client/ employer did not want to have breakfast at home. Claimant complied with the request and, while driving her client/ employer to get breakfast, was involved in a motor vehicle accident. Claimant sustained injuries requiring medical treatment.

Thereafter, claimant submitted a workers’ compensation claim to petitioner SAIF in connection with the injury. SAIF denied the claim on the ground that claimant’s injury “did not arise out of or occur within the course of [her] employment.” Claimant requested a hearing before an administrative law judge (ALJ), and, following the hearing, the ALJ upheld SAIF’s denial, also concluding that claimant’s injury “did not arise out of or in the course and scope of her employment.” The ALJ found that claimant had taken the client/employer out to breakfast at the client/employer’s direction but that that activity was not on claimant’s Task List. Based on those findings, the ALJ concluded that claimant’s injury did not occur in the scope of her employment because it did not occur during a Task List activity.

Claimant appealed the ALJ’s order to the board, and the board reversed the ALJ’s order and set aside SAIF’s denial of claimant’s claim. The board concluded that claimant’s injury arose out of, and occurred in the course of, claimant’s employment, based on the fact that the injury occurred during her employment hours, while she was performing a service for her employer, and at the direction of her employer, even though the injury occurred during an activity that was not included on the Task List. As a result, [528]*528the board concluded that claimant had suffered a compensable injury. SAIF timely petitioned this court for review of the board’s order.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

As explained further below, SAIF contends that the board misinterpreted the requirements of ORS 656.039(5) when it concluded that claimant was entitled to workers’ compensation coverage for an injury incurred in an employer-directed activity that was not funded by the state. We review the board’s order to determine whether it reflects an erroneous interpretation of ORS 656.039(5) and, if so, whether the correct interpretation of the statute requires the board to take a particular action. ORS 183.482(8)(a).

III. ANALYSIS

On review, SAIF does not contest that claimant was injured while performing a service directed by her employer or that, under ordinary circumstances, claimant’s injury would be deemed to have arisen out of, and occurred in the course of, claimant’s employment, in light of the fact that the employer directed that claimant conduct the activity in which she was injured. Instead, SAIF argues that, in concluding that claimant was entitled to workers’ compensation coverage for her injury, the board erroneously interpreted ORS 656.039(5).3 SAIF contends that, in the case of home care workers, ORS 656.039(5) supplants the ordinary framework for determining whether an employee’s injury arises out of, and occurs in the course of, employment and is therefore compensable. SAIF further asserts that ORS [529]*529656.039(5) limits workers’ compensation coverage for home care workers to injuries sustained while performing activities funded by the state, that is, activities on the Task List. Accordingly, in SAIF’s view, the board erred by setting aside the denial, because ORS 656.039(5) establishes as a matter of law that claimant’s injury — which did not occur during a Task List activity — is not one for which workers’ compensation coverage is available.

We reject SAIF’s interpretation of ORS 656.039(5). The text and the context of that statute demonstrate that it does not impose the limitation on workers’ compensation coverage for home care workers that SAIF claims it does.

ORS 656.039(5) provides:

“(a) The Home Care Commission created by ORS 410.602 shall elect coverage on behalf of clients of the Department of Human Services or the Oregon Health Authority who employ home care workers to make home care workers subject workers if the home care worker is funded by the state on behalf of the client.

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

Related

Edwards v. Cavenham Forest Industries
492 P.3d 750 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2021)
Vaughn v. Marion County
469 P.3d 231 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2020)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
336 P.3d 565, 265 Or. App. 525, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/saif-corp-v-tono-orctapp-2014.