Terry began working for Helpful Companion Company as a home health aide in June of 2008. Since her start though, she was assigned only one patient from the date she began working through the date that she was involved in an automobile accident on her way to that patient’s home. In performing her work assignment, Terry always drove directly from her own home to the patient’s home. In January of 2010, Terry’s vehicle slid on ice and Terry was injured sustaining serious injuries to her neck and back. Terry has not been able to continue working since that time and filed a workers’ compensation claim against her employer.

Issue: Will Terry be successful?

Answer: No. There is a general rule referred to as the “coming and going rule” which precludes individuals such as Terry who are injured while traveling to and from work from receiving workers’ compensation benefits. This is a general rule. There are exceptions which do not apply. Those exceptions would have been if Terry’s employer had provided transportation to her or if Terry was being paid for her travel time by the employer.

Disclaimer: The above article is for instructive purposes only and each case is fact sensitive. Consultation with an attorney should be obtained instead of reliance upon the legal issues discussed in this column.