Gold Kist, Inc. v. Jones
| Decision Date | 09 November 1988 |
| Citation | 537 So.2d 39 |
| Parties | GOLD KIST, INC. v. Cleburn JONES. Civ. 6572. |
| Court | Alabama Court of Civil Appeals |
John W. Clark, Jr., Amy K. Myers, and William A. Austill of Clark & Scott, Birmingham, for appellant.
F. Timothy Riley of Carnes & Carnes, Albertville, for appellee.
This is a workmen's compensation case.
The employee was injured while in the employer's parking lot during a thirty-minute lunch break. After an ore tenus hearing, the trial court found that the employee's accident occurred in the course of his employment and that he was, therefore, entitled to workmen's compensation benefits.
The employer appeals, and we affirm.
The dispositive issue is whether the coverage of the Workmen's Compensation Act extends to the injury sustained by the employee during his meal-time break while on the employer's property. In other words, did the employee's injuries arise out of and in the course of his employment?
The facts which gave rise to this claim are basically undisputed and are not complex. They are as follows:
The employee's work schedule was from 6:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m., with a thirty-minute lunch break beginning at approximately 10:00 a.m. The employee was not required to remain on the employer's premises during his lunch break. However, it was customary for the workers and some of the supervisors to do so and to eat lunch in the employer's parking lot. There was testimony that there was a break room, but that just about everyone ate in the parking lot.
This parking lot was owned and maintained by the employer and was on the company's premises. It was not a public parking lot and was designated for the employee's parking. Surrounding the lot was a chain-link fence approximately six feet high.
On April 23, 1987, the employee was on his lunch break, and as was customary, he was eating his lunch on his car hood in the parking lot. While preparing to return to his work duties, the employee either pushed himself, or slipped, off the hood of his car and twisted his back and hip and ruptured a disc in his spine.
As noted above, the trial court found that the employee was entitled to benefits as a result of his injury.
The employer contends that the trial court erred, however, as the injury did not arise out of and in the course of his employment because the employee was on his lunch break in the parking lot. We disagree.
For an injury to an employee to be compensable under our workmen's compensation laws, the accident causing the injury must "arise out of" his employment and occur "in the course of" such employment. Ala.Code (1975), § 25-5-31 (1986 Repl.Vol.).
The phrase "in the course of" refers to the time, place, and circumstances under which the accident took place. Generally, injuries occurring on the premises during a regular lunch break are said to arise "in the course of" employment. Wells v. Morris, 33 Ala.App. 497, 35 So.2d 54 (1948). This is so even though the interval is technically outside the regular hours of employment in the sense that the employee receives no pay for that time and is in no degree under the control of the employer, i.e., being free to go where he pleases. 1A A. Larson, The Law of Workmen's Compensation, § 21.20(a) (1985); for persuasive authority, see Lassila v. Sears, Roebuck & Co., 302 Minn. 350, 224 N.W.2d 519 (1974). Since Alabama recognizes that parking lots owned or maintained by an employer are part of the employer's premises, the employee in this case was on the employer's premises when he sustained his injury. Hughes v. Decatur General Hospital, 514 So.2d 935 (Ala.1987).
Therefore, the employee's injury occurred on the premises during a lunch break and, thus, was in the course of his employment.
We...
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