On-Premises Slip and Fall Not Compensable for Arkansas Worker

Illustrating the narrow rule that Arkansas utilizes to determine if an injury arises out of and in the course of the employment, a state appellate court recently affirmed the denial of benefits to a medical care facility housekeeper who slipped on a wet floor in her employer’s lobby in the middle of the workday[Rodriguez-Gonzalez v. Jamestown Health & Rehab, 2019 Ark. App. 530, 2019 Ark. App. LEXIS 575 (Nov. 13, 2019)]. Observing that a compensable injury does not include an injury “inflicted upon the employee at a time when employment services were not being performed” [see Ark. Code Ann. § 11-9-102(4)(B)(iii)], the appellate court held that substantial evidence supported the ALJ’s finding (affirmed and adopted by the Commission) that at the time of her fall, the housekeeper was going to retrieve her lunch from her vehicle in the facility’s parking lot.

Background

At the hearing on her claim, the housekeeper testified that she was picking up trash in the employer’s lobby when she slipped and fell on a wet floor. She also stated that at the time of her fall, she had her cleaning equipment with her and was helping an employee-in-training clean the lobby. She further testified that because of the frequency of accidents involving the elderly residents at the facility, she had to be on call at any time during the day. The housekeeper argued that she was still on the clock and even assuming that she was preparing to go to lunch, she had not exited the facility.

The employer presented contradictory evidence. Testimony was elicited that the housekeeper did not have her cleaning equipment with her, that she was on her way out to a vehicle in the parking lot to retrieve her lunch, and that although the housekeeper had not clocked out for her lunch period, it was common for workers to remain clocked it if they were not leaving the employer’s facility at the lunch hour. Employer’s representatives indicated that in such cases, one-half an hour was automatically deducted from the worker’s time to allow for the unpaid lunch break.

ALJ and Commission Ruling

Employing the narrow rule in Ark. Code Ann. § 11-9-102(4)(B)(iii), the ALJ found the injury did not occur in the course and scope of the employment. The Commission affirmed and adopted the ALJ’s findings.

Appellate Court Decision

The appellate court affirmed, indicated the facts in the instant case were quite similar to those in Robinson v. St. Vincent Infirmary Medical Center, 88 Ark. App. 168, 196 S.W.3d 508 (2004), in which the court affirmed the Commission’s finding that a housekeeper was not performing employment services when she slipped and fell on a puddle of coffee when she was retrieving her lunch on the fourth floor of the hospital. The court said that in Robinson, as in the instant case, the claimant had not clocked out for lunch, but she was on her lunch break and planned to take her lunch to the cafeteria after retrieving it. In Robinson, the employee even cleaned up the coffee after the accident. Still, the Robinson court reasoned that the employer gleaned no benefit from the housekeeper going to get her lunch and that her action was totally personal in nature.

Turning back to the instant case, the court noted that the claimant-housekeeper told the human-resources office immediately following the incident that she fell when she was going to lunch. She also stated in a deposition that she was on her lunch hour and that her food was in her car. Further, both the human-resources officer and the housekeeping supervisor testified that the claimant housekeeper was walking toward the front door when she fell and that she did not have her cleaning equipment. They also testified that the claimant had been assigned certain halls to clean and that she was not required to clean the lobby.

Based on the foregoing, the appellate court concluded that substantial evidence supported the Commission’s determination that the housekeeper failed to establish a compensable injury because she was not performing employment services at the time of the accident.