Mississippi: Switching to Jeep From Motorcycle Due to Potential Bad Weather Was Deviation From Employment

The state’s Workers’ Compensation Commission did not err in reversing the administrative judge’s determination that a worker was acting in the scope of his employment when, in anticipation of bad weather, he rode toward his house after lunch to switch from his motorcycle to his jeep before returning to his office. The appellate court held the worker was on a personal errand to exchange vehicles unconnected to a business purpose for his employer. The court observed that the worker had a fixed place of employment and while aspects of his work included travel to service locations, and he was entitled to reimbursement for that travel, his position was not comparable to that of a truck driver or traveling salesman. His travel to lunch and his personal errand home to exchange vehicles were outside the scope of his employment.

Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis%20Workers’%20Compensation%20eNewsletter,">LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletterLexisNexis%20Workers’%20Compensation%20eNewsletter,">, is the co-author of Larson’s%20Workers’%20Compensation%20Law">Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law (LexisNexis).

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See Bennett v. Mississippi State Dep’t of Health, 2016 Miss. App. LEXIS 474 (July 26, 2016)

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 17.03.

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