Compo case while working from home

Woman gets compensation from fall over family pet while working in her own home garage   (USA)

The injury a J.C. Penney & Co. (USA) salesperson suffered when she tripped over her dog while working at home arose from her employment, Oregon’s Court of Appeals has ruled.

The workers’ compensation claimant in Mary S. Sandberg vs. J.C. Penney Co. Inc. was a decorator, selling window furnishings and bedding in the clients own home. Most of her work week was spent  travelling to appointments, and meeting with customers to show then samples in their own homes, or else, working from her own home/office.

The job required that she have an office in her car, where she kept fabric samples and pricing guides. Her employer also instructed her to store excess products at her home or find another place for them.

Consequently, she stored samples in her garage and was walking from the back door of her home to her garage to replace fabrics in her van when she tripped over her family pet dog, and fractured her wrist.

The local Workers’ Compensation Board determined that Sandberg’s injury did not arise from her employment and denied her benefits.

However, the state appellate court disagreed in its ruling and ruled that  Sandberg worked from home as a condition of her employment, which benefited her employer. Therefore, her home and garage constitute her work environment and premises, and the injury therefore arose from her employment.

If the “claimant tripped over a dog and injured herself while meeting with a customer in the customer’s home, her injury would arise out of her employment,” the appellate court ruled. “The same is true here because claimant was where she was, doing what she was, because of the requirements of her employment.”

The appeals court reversed the board and remanded the case for reconsideration.