On the other hand, Arizona employees often travel and run errands for their jobs. While these work-related errands will normally fall within the purview of workers’ compensation laws, the question gets trickier when an employee does both personal and work-related tasks in the same trip.
In this type of case, a court or administrative body will decide whether the trip is fundamentally personal or business-related, depending on all the facts and circumstances. If the personal portion of the trip would have happened even without the work-related errand, then a worker may not be entitled to workers’ compensation benefits if there is an accident.
As a relatively recent Arizona court case shows, workers can sometimes wind up not getting compensation that they need because of the going and coming rule. In the recent court case, a woman who had just dropped off some papers for work did not get workers’ compensation even though she had a car accident shortly thereafter. The court determined that she was on her way home and thus not eligible for workers’ compensation.
Eligibility for workers’ compensation benefits is not always a cut and dried matter. Many times, it is best for Arizona workers to seek the advice of experienced workers’ compensation attorneys.