Illinois: Long-Haul Driver’s Injuries Putting Suitcase into Personal Vehicle at Home Not Compensable

A truck driver, who worked as a car hauler for a company that delivered new automobiles to various car dealerships is considered to be a “traveling employee” while making those various deliveries; his ordinary commute from his home to his employer’s premises is not part of that travel, held an Illinois court. Accordingly, where the driver, while still at home, felt a severe pain in his back and legs as he opened his car door and reached down to pick up a loaded suitcase that he planned to take with him for his upcoming work-related trip, his injuries did not arise out of and in the course of the employment. The court indicated that to hold otherwise would swallow the rule barring recovery for injuries incurred while traveling to and from work.

Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter, is a leading commentator and expert on the law of workers’ compensation.

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See Pryor v. Illinois Workers’ Comp. Comm’n, 2015 Ill. App. LEXIS 112 (Feb. 19, 2015) [2015 Ill. App. LEXIS 112 (Feb. 19, 2015)]

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 13.01 [13.01]

Source: Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, the nation’s leading authority on workers’ compensation law.