Death While Attending Leadership Conference Was In Scope of Employment

A Texas appeals court has ruled that a landscape manager was within the “course and scope of his employment” when he passed away en route to pick up a co-worker to attend a leadership conference

The recent ruling by the 3rd District Court of Appeals in Texas in Zurich American Insurance Co. vs. Chantal McVey upholds a lower courts decision denying Zurich’s argument that Troy McVey’s beneficiary was not entitled to workers compensation benefits due to the fact he was not acting in the course and scope of his job when he died in an auto accident.

According to Business Insurance, on the day of the accident, McVey was behind the wheel of a company-owned truck he regularly used to perform his employment. He was scheduled to attend his employer’s leadership conference and was slated to pick up the co-worker, who also was required to attend the event and lived in proximity to McVey’s route to the company gathering, according to court records.

Court records also report that the employer “emphasized policies that its employees should be efficient when making company-funded travel and made employees subject to dismissal for repeated perceived abuses.”

Zurich’s arguments were directed toward the belief that McVey essentially was engaged in “an everyday trip to work,” according to court records.

But the appeals court found that a “coming-and-going” rule that prohibits benefits for accidents while traveling to work does not apply in this case.

It said McVey was taking part in travel that furthered his employers business. As a result, his death is compensable, the court concluded, according to BusinessInsurance.com

Note: The facts of each “coming and going” case are slightly different even though many may appear to be the same. Make sure to ask your local defense counsel and the insurance company if your employees were “coming or going” to work.

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