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In an interesting twist regarding the compensability of recreational injuries within the workers’ compensation context, a divided Supreme Court of South Carolina held that an employee's injuries sustained in a game of kickball arose out of and in the course of the employment in spite of the fact that participation in the game was voluntary for the firm’s employees. Quoting Larson's Workers' Compensation Law, § 22.01, the majority held that under the facts of the case, while attending the event may have been voluntary for the firm’s employees generally, it was essentially compulsory for the injured employee, who served as the firm’s Director of Creative Solutions and who had planned and otherwise organized the event as a team-building event. The high court noted that the injured employee's superior had approved team-building event. Moreover, the employer budgeted $400 for special T-shirts, drinks, and snacks. The injured employee shattered the tibia and fibula in his right leg after jumping and landing awkwardly on the last play of the game.
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.
LexisNexis Online Subscribers: Citations below link to Lexis Advance. Bracketed citations link to lexis.com.
See Whigham v. Jackson Dawson Communications, 2014 S.C. LEXIS 367 (Aug. 27, 2014) [2014 S.C. LEXIS 367 (Aug. 27, 2014)]
See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 22.01 [22.01]
For a more detailed discussion of the case, see http://www.workcompwriter.com/divided-sc-supreme-court-says-injuries-sustained-playing-kickball-were-compensable/
Source: Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, the nation’s leading authority on workers’ compensation law.
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