McSwain v. Industrial Commercial Sales & Service, LLC
On April 7, 2020, the North Carolina Court of Appeals issued an important decision that helped clarify the compensability of injuries suffered by traveling employees.
The Supreme Court of North Carolina has held that traveling employees (employees whose job requires them to stay overnight away from home) are generally considered to be acting “in the course of” their employment during their respective trip, except when there is a distinct departure on a personal errand is shown. However, in order to prove compensability of injuries sustained while traveling for work, employees must still establish that the injury “arose out of” their employment. In determining whether an injury “arose out of” employment depends on the facts, and may differ on a case-by-case basis.
Based upon the Court’s jurisprudence, the Court in McSwain held that washing or doing laundry was not a “necessary” personal need that needed to be done for Employee-Plaintiff to complete his job functions for his employer. In fact, the Court found that there was no evidence submitted by Employee-Plaintiff showing that doing laundry was necessary to further, directly or indirectly, the business of the employer. There was also no evidence to support a finding that Employee-Plaintiff had run out of clothes to necessitate a need to do laundry to provide clean clothes for the remainder of such business trip. Thus, the Court determined that the intent and act of doing laundry was not necessary to further, directly or indirectly, the business of the employer. Given these findings, the Court determined that Employee-Plaintiff’s accident and injuries, despite occurring while traveling for his employer, did not “arise out of” his employment and therefore the claim is not compensable and benefits were denied.
Attorney Derek Wagner successfully defended this claim at the North Carolina Court of Appeals. The decision by the Court helped clarify the legal nuances involved with accident and injuries occurring when an employee is traveling for business purposes. If you have sustained injuries while traveling for work, please contact our office in order to seek proper legal advice with regard to your injuries.