Joe Worker arrived at his job after a long commute in unusually heavy traffic. As he drove in that day, he enjoyed a large cup of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee. Joe was a Dunkin’ Donuts man; Starbucks held no charms for him. Because it took so long to get to work, Joe really needed to use the restroom when he arrived at his employer’s place of business. So instead of clocking in, he went straight to the bathroom, where he proceeded to slip and fall on a wet floor, breaking his leg. To add insult to injury, Joe’s boss told him not to bother filing a workers’ compensation claim because he wasn’t on the clock at the time of his injury and was therefore not entitled to workers’ comp benefits. Was the boss man right? Happily, no, the boss man was all wet, just like that bathroom floor. Under Virginia Workers’ Compensation law, several legal doctrines combine to provide Joe worker’s compensation benefits for his workplace accident. While the time clock may control the amount of your paycheck, it doesn’t control your right to workers’ compensation if you suffer an accident right before punching in or, for that matter, just after punching out.
So, what lessons can we take from Joe’s story? First, stick to medium cups of coffee on the way to work; you never know what traffic will be like as you pull out of that drive thru. Second, don’t take legal advice from your boss, especially in the workplace injury context. And finally, call an experienced workers’ compensation lawyer if you’re hurt on the job. Things are not always as hopeless as they might seem.