Personal Comfort Doctrine or - Make Sure the Vending Machines are Secure

Worker Injured Attempting to Retrieve a Bag of Chips Stuck in Vending Machine Receives Award of Benefits

In Circuit City Stores, Inc. v. Illinois Workers' Comp. Comm'n, 2009 Ill. App. LEXIS 278 (Ill. App. Ct. May 21, 2009), cert. denied, 2009 Ill. App. LEXIS 655 (Ill. App. Ct. July 9, 2009), the court affirmed an award to young male worker, with a preexisting hip condition associated with a baseball injury, who suffered a displaced fracture through the right femoral neck when he attempted to dislodge a bag of Fritos stuck in a vending machine on the employer's premises. The chips were not for his own consumption, but rather had been purchased by a co-worker. Applying the personal comfort doctrine, the arbitrator found a compensable accident and the Commission affirmed, with one member dissenting. (WCxKit)

The Illinois appellate court affirmed the award of benefits, but on other grounds. Agreeing with the dissenting commissioner who had argued that the personal comfort doctrine should not apply since the worker was not on break nor seeking his own comfort, the appellate court found that the Commission's finding that the worker's injuries arose out of the employment was not contrary to law, at least on other theories. Tracking a line of cases in which the employment had been expanded so as to encompass an employee's actions in aiding others in emergencies, the court indicated that "[w]hat the instant case lacks in urgency, it makes up for in familiarity and collegiality." The court concluded that the Commission could reasonably have found that the worker's manner of assisting the other worker did not cross the line of employment. (WCxKit) See Larson’s Workers Compensation Law, Ch. 21, § 21.08[1] n1.1. http://www.lexisnexis.com/Community/workerscompensationlaw/

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