New York Law Blog

When are you technically on and off the job, and is there any grey area to that? A recent case that went before the New York state court of appeals had to define the difference, and came up with a surprising ruling. A taxi driver was in his vehicle on a lunch break when a stranded motorist asked for help jump starting a dead battery. The battery exploded in the process, leaving the taxi driver blind. When filing a claim for workers compensation, a judge ruled that the injury received was on personal time seeing how the driver was on a break from his work duties. End of story, right? Well, not so after an appeal to the state.

To be compensable under New York’s Workers’ Compensation Law, an injury must have arisen both out of and in the course of employment. Here, the employer argued that the injury wasn’t compensable because the taxi driver was on a meal break at the time of the accident. The court agreed that injuries that occur during meal breaks taken off employer’s premises are generally not compensable.

However, the court noted that the general rule doesn’t apply in situations in which the nature of the job dictates the time and place of the meal, and the employee is still considered to be on the job at the time the break occurs.

The employer argued that their drivers were given explicit instructions NOT to do any repair work on their own vehicles, but the court countered with the fact that it did not apply to the drivers helping out a fellow stranded motorist. And the most interesting ruling of all?

Furthermore, when an employee in the course of employment is temporarily involved in an activity that benefits the employer, the activity falls within the scope of employment. Here, because the cab was clearly marked with the employer’s name, the assistance created a good-will benefit to the employer. The court affirmed the Board’s decision.

It just goes to show that there is a very fine line between what could be considered on and off the clock when it comes to employers, and that it never hurts to seek outside council should you feel like you have been injured surrounding your employment.

We recently compiled a list of the top ten most dangerous jobs. These are the type of jobs that lead to serious injuries or death, and they usually lead to personal injury or accidental death lawsuits. The top ten most dangerous jobs include:

Top 10 Most Dangerous Jobs

1. Logging Workers
2. Aircraft Pilots
3. Fisherman and Fishing Workers
4. Structural Iron and Steel Workers
5. Refuse and Recyclable Material Collectors
6. Farmers and Ranchers
7. Roofers
8. Electrical Power Line Installers/Repairers
9. Driver/Sales Workers and Truck Drivers
10. Taxi Drivers and Chauffeurs

The Wall Street Journal reported on recent studies that suggest a significant underreporting of accidents in the workplace. They stated that some of it is related to an increase in immigrant and contract workers.

Some safety experts say the underreporting problem is growing as more immigrants who typically underreport injuries enter the work force, and as more employers classify workers as independent contractors whose injuries aren’t tracked. Those issues are gaining traction in a Democratic-controlled Congress in light of recent construction accidents in New York and Las Vegas.

Although reporting of injuries in the workplace has declined, death rates have stayed the same. This new data is troubling to the Labor Department, “which has begun interviewing employers about OSHA’s record-keeping requirements to see why injuries might be missed.” OSHA is getting most of the blame for the supposed flawed reporting, but they deny that they’re the cause of the underreporting.

Sharon Worthy, an OSHA spokeswoman, said OSHA “strives to obtain the most accurate data on workplace injuries.” She said OSHA conducts 250 record-keeping audits of employers each year and found that 90% accurately recorded injuries and illnesses. She said OSHA doesn’t agree with the findings…

At issue with these new findings are the policy decisions that are reliant on accurate data. If the data isn’t correct, then the Labor Department won’t be able to make sound decisions related to where safety needs to be improved.