Human Resource Blog

Workers Comp

	Benefits
Total Compensation Summary Performance Improvement Plan Performance Appraisal and Review Employee Payroll Status/Change Form Employee Change Form

	Compensation
Employee Payroll Action Form W-4 Employee Withholding Allowance Cert. Employee Payroll Status/Change Form Direct Deposit Form Total Compensation Summary

Am I obligated to make a workers comp claim if an employee gets into a car accident leaving a social event that is work related? Several employees were invited to the event via compnay email to celebrate a co-workers birthday.

This situation calls for legal advice from an attorney who specializes in workers’ comp – not an online forum. Only an attorney who is completely aware of all the details of this situation can give you advice. Please call such an attorney immediately, for your own protection.

We can’t give legal advice, but we can identify some of the issues. In some cases, employees at social events may be entitled to workers’ comp if they believe that the social event was a part of their job. For example, a salesperson who took a client to lunch, and had an auto accident on the way home, would be covered under workers’ comp.

In the worst possible scenario, the company might be found liable for a situation that is not covered under workers’ comp insurance.

In several cases, employers have been found liable when workers attended a party where alcohol was served. In a number of cases, the employee was driving drunk and was killed, or killed someone else, after the party. Often, if the employee was attending a company-sponsored party like an annual holiday party. This is why many employers are severely curtailing alcohol consumption at such events.

This situation is even more complex because the invitation was issued by a coworker using company email. The injured employee may have thought that attending was part of his or her job, rather than an optional social occasion.

The fact that you admit the event was “work related” suggests that the employer may have some liability. Many workers’ comp insurance policies specifically exclude such events. It can’t be put any plainer – “Get thee to a lawyer.”