City of Northglenn v. Eltrich, 94CA1328

• Docket Nº: No. 94CA1328
• Citation: 908 P.2d 139
• Case Date: June 29, 1995
• Court: Court of Appeals of Colorado

Page 139

908 P.2d 139 CITY OF NORTHGLENN and Colorado Compensation Insurance
Authority, Petitioners,
v.
Jeannine M. ELTRICH and the Industrial Claim Appeals Office
of the State of Colorado, Respondents. No. 94CA1328. Colorado Court of Appeals,
Div. V. June 29, 1995. ^*
Rehearing Denied Aug. 3, 1995.
Certiorari Granted Dec. 18, 1995.

Page 140

Michael J. Steiner, Denver, for petitioners.

Fogel, Keating & Wagner, P.C., Marshall A. Fogel, Laurence J. Free, Denver, for respondent Jeannine M. Eltrich.

No Appearance for the Industrial Claim Appeals Office.

Opinion by Chief Judge STERNBERG.

The City of Northglenn (employer) and its insurer, the Colorado Compensation Insurance Authority (CCIA), seek review of a final order of the Industrial Claim Appeals Panel determining that Jeannine M. Eltrich (claimant) suffered a compensable industrial injury. The determinative issue is whether the injury sustained by the claimant while she was engaged in a self-directed, off-duty exercise program is a compensable industrial injury. We conclude that claimant's injury does not satisfy the statutory requirements for compensability and, therefore, set aside the award of benefits.

Claimant was employed as a police officer during the time that employer instituted a mandatory physical fitness testing program. Shortly before her injury, claimant failed to perform satisfactorily on the cardiovascular portion of that test, and her supervisor commented about the need to improve her performance. Claimant testified that this comment caused her to fear losing her job because employer's disciplinary procedure permitted termination upon failure to meet the physical testing requirements. According to claimant, in response to this remark, she began riding a bicycle during off-duty hours in order to improve her physical condition so that she could perform satisfactorily on the cardiovascular test. While doing so, she sustained the injuries for which she sought compensation.

The Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) concluded that off-duty training was mandatory in order to meet the physical testing requirements and that failure to meet the requirements could result in termination. The ALJ further concluded that this implied compulsion to train off-duty caused claimant to engage in bicycle riding, which in turn caused her compensable injury.

The employer contends the conclusion that claimant's injury arose out of and in the course of her employment is contrary to the law and not supported by the evidence. We adopt the ALJ's findings on the facts. Nonetheless, we conclude that those findings do not support the ALJ's legal conclusion that claimant's injury arose out of and occurred within the scope of her employment with Northglenn. See Dorsch v. Industrial Commission, 185 Colo. 219, 523 P.2d 458 (1974) (the correctness of a legal conclusion drawn from undisputed facts is properly a matter for the appellate court). Thus, we hold that the ALJ's conclusion was erroneous as a matter of law.

An activity "arises out of and in the course of" employment when it is sufficiently interrelated to the conditions and circumstances under which the employee usually performs his or her job functions that the activity reasonably may be characterized as an incident of employment, even though the activity itself is not a strict obligation of employment and does not confer a special benefit on the employer. City of Boulder v. Streeb, 706 P.2d 786 (Colo.1985); see § 8-41-301(1)(b), C.R.S. (1994 Cum.Supp.).

The "in the course of employment" requirement is satisfied by showing that an injury occurred within the time and place limits of the employment relation...