The Employee worked as a caregiver providing personal care services to clients of the Employer. On October 22, 2022, the Employee was scheduled to assist a client living in Cottage Grove from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., with another shift for the same client starting at 9:00 a.m. the following day. Because the drive from the Employee’s home in Blaine to Cottage Grove took 45 to 60 minutes, on two prior dates the Employee had spent the night at the client’s home in a guest room for her convenience in avoiding the round-trip commute. The Employee had not notified the Employer she had ever spent the night at the client’s home. On October 22, 2022, the Employee decided to stay the night at the client’s home.
On October 23, 2022, the Employee woke up at 5:00 a.m. in the client’s guest bedroom needing to use the bathroom. As the Employee placed her feet on the floor, she slid off the bed, twisted her right ankle and fell as she stepped out of bed. The Employee was not performing any work duties when the incident occurred and she was between shifts. The Employee began her shift later that morning at 9:00 a.m. and worked until its completion at 10:00 p.m. The incident resulted in a right ankle fracture and the Employee required surgery.
On December 15, 2023, the Employee’s claim came on for hearing before compensation judge, Stacy Bouman. The Employee testified that she told the Employer’s staffing coordinator that she might stay the night at the client’s home. She also testified that she had received permission from the staffing coordinator to stay overnight at the client’s home. The Employer’s witness testified that there was no documentation that the Employee had received permission to stay at the client’s home beyond her assigned shift and that the Employee had violated company policy by doing so without prior approval.
The compensation judge found that the Employee’s right ankle injury did not arise out of or in the course of her employment and denied her claims. The Employee appealed.
WCCA noted that compensation judge’s determination was based in part upon findings that: the Employee stayed overnight for her personal convenience and not for reasons incidental to her employment, specifically, due to a desire to reduce her commute time; that neither the client nor his wife requested the Employee to stay overnight to provide additional care to the client; that the Employee’s injury happened seven hours after her shift ended on October 22, 2022, and four hours before the start of her shift on October 23, 2022; and that the Employee did not provide care or services to the client between those shifts.
WCCA held that substantial evidence supported compensation judge’s finding that the Employee’s right ankle injury did not arise in the course of her employment, concluding that after clocking out following her work shift, the Employee was no longer engaged in activity reasonably incidental to her employment, and that the injury occurred outside a reasonable period after and before her scheduled work shifts. WCCA affirmed.