Lee v. Industrial Com'n
Decision Date | 21 September 1995 |
Docket Number | No. 77402,77402 |
Citation | 167 Ill.2d 77,212 Ill.Dec. 250,656 N.E.2d 1084 |
Parties | , 212 Ill.Dec. 250 Lucious LEE, Appellant, v. The INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION et al. (Tootsie Roll Industries, Inc., Appellee). |
Court | Illinois Supreme Court |
James E. Riley, Chicago, for appellant.
Gregory E. Ahern, Kane, Doy & Harrington, Ltd., Chicago, for appellees.
This appeal presents the question of whether an off- duty employee may recover Workers' Compensation Act benefits for injuries sustained when he was struck by an automobile as he departed from an employer-approved medical clinic at which he received medical treatment for a prior work-related injury.
The claimant, Lucious Lee, was employed as a laborer by the respondent, Tootsie Roll Industries, Inc. On November 7, 1984, the claimant injured his thumb in a work-related accident. Although claimant did not file a worker's compensation claim for this injury, respondent paid for medical treatment arising from the injury. On December 10, 1984, after the end of claimant's normal work shift, he left his place of employment to go to the employer-approved medical clinic for follow-up treatment for his November thumb injury. After the treatment was completed, claimant left the clinic and crossed the street to board a bus. While crossing the street, he was struck by an automobile and injured his knee. Claimant required medical treatment for the knee injury and was unable to work for 10 1/2 weeks.
Claimant sought compensation under the Workers' Compensation Act (the Act) for his knee injury. (820 ILCS 305/1 et seq. (West 1992).) The parties proceeded to arbitration. Following an evidentiary hearing, the arbitrator denied compensation for the knee injury because, generally, under Illinois law, injuries sustained away from the workplace in an accident during travel to or from work are not compensable under the Act. (See, e.g. Doyle v. Industrial Comm'n (1983), 95 Ill.2d 103, 107, 69 Ill.Dec. 93, 447 N.E.2d 310.) The arbitrator found that the thumb injury did not contribute to the knee injury, and that the knee injury "did not arise from the course and scope of" the claimant's employment. The Industrial Commission confirmed the arbitrator's denial of compensation. However, the Commission framed the question of law as whether injuries sustained during travel to or from follow-up medical treatment for prior work-related injuries are compensable under the Act.
Upon judicial review, the circuit court of Cook County confirmed the Commission's decision and held that a denial of compensation in the facts of this case was not contrary to law or against the manifest weight of the evidence. The circuit court found that the claimant failed to show that he had been performing an act reasonably incident to a duty of his employment at the time of the injury. The circuit court also determined that there was no causal connection between the work-related thumb injury and the subsequent knee injury, and that the claimant's injury did not occur either at his place of employment or at a place away from the jobsite to which the claimant was sent by his employer to perform a duty of his employment.
The Industrial Commission division of the appellate court, with one justice dissenting, upheld the denial of compensation. (262 Ill.App.3d 1108, 200 Ill.Dec. 427, 635 N.E.2d 766.) The appellate court rejected claimant's argument that an off-duty employee's injury, sustained while returning from medical treatment, was compensable under the Act. The appellate court issued a certificate of importance pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 316. This court granted the claimant's petition for leave to appeal. 145 Ill.2d R. 315(a).
Under the Act, compensable injuries must arise out of and in the course of employment. (820 ILCS 305/1 (West 1992).) Both elements must co-exist in order for an employee's injury to be found compensable. (Loyola University v. Industrial Comm'n (1951), 408 Ill. 139, 143, 96 N.E.2d 509.) Injuries "arising out of" employment have been defined as those injuries originating in a risk created by a causal connection between the employment and the injury. (Caterpillar Tractor Co. v. Industrial Comm'n (1989), 129 Ill.2d 52, 58, 133 Ill.Dec. 454, 541 N.E.2d 665.) A claimant has the burden of establishing the necessary causal relationship between the employment and the injury. (Brady v. Louis Ruffolo & Sons Construction Co. (1991), 143 Ill.2d 542, 548, 161 Ill.Dec. 275, 578 N.E.2d 921.) The claimant may establish this causal connection if the injury occurred while the employee was acting under the direction of the employer, if the injury occurred while the employee was performing an act reasonably incident to an assigned duty of employment, or if the injury occurred while the employee was acting pursuant to a statutory or common law duty while performing duties for his employer. Howell Tractor & Equipment Co. v. Industrial Comm'n (1980), 78 Ill.2d 567, 573, 38 Ill.Dec. 127, 403 N.E.2d 215.
"In the course of" refers to the time, place and circumstances surrounding the injury. (Scheffler Greenhouses, Inc. v. Industrial Comm'n (1977), 66 Ill.2d 361, 366, 5 Ill.Dec. 854, 362 N.E.2d 325.) Injuries sustained by employees away from the workplace during travel to and from work are, generally, not compensable. (Butler Manufacturing Co. v. Industrial Comm'n (1981), 85 Ill.2d 213, 216, 52 Ill.Dec. 623, 422 N.E.2d 625.) However, there is an exception to this general rule for employees whose employment duties require travel away from the work site. (David Wexler & Co. v. Industrial Comm'n (1972), 52 Ill.2d 506, 510, 288 N.E.2d 420.) Injuries to such employees occur in the course of employment if the employee's conduct, at the time of the accident, was reasonable and the risk of injury was foreseeable. Humphrey v. Industrial Comm'n (1979), 76 Ill.2d 333, 336, 29 Ill.Dec. 464, 392 N.E.2d 21.
In this appeal, claimant contends that his knee injury is compensable because the injuries he sustained during travel from employer-provided medical treatment for work-related injuries arise out of and in the course of his employment. Claimant makes two arguments in support of this contention. First, claimant asserts that the accident occurred while he was performing an act reasonably incident to an assigned duty of his employment. Second, claimant argues that "but for" the prior work-related injury to his thumb, the knee injury would not have occurred.
We consider first whether claimant's knee injury occurred while the claimant was performing an act reasonably incident to his employment. According to claimant, his employer's instruction that he procure treatment at the clinic designated by his employer rendered his travel to the clinic an incident of his employment duties.
The Commission considered and rejected claimant's argument. The Commission concluded that the claimant was neither acting at the direction of his employer nor performing an act reasonably incident to his employment at the time of the knee injury. Where there is conflicting evidence, we will not disturb the Commission's factual determinations unless they are against the manifest weight of the evidence. (Phelps v. Industrial Comm'n (1979), 77 Ill.2d 72, 75, 31 Ill.Dec. 814, 394 N.E.2d 1191.) We conclude that the Commission's findings in this case were not against the manifest weight of the evidence.
Claimant testified before the Commission that he was authorized by his employer to visit the employer-approved clinic for treatment when his knee injury occurred on December 10, 1984. However, claimant's testimony was contradicted by his supervisor, who testified that he had no prior knowledge of and did not authorize claimant's December 10, 1984, visit to the clinic. The company nurse also testified that she did not issue a pass for the claimant to visit the clinic on that day. In denying compensation to the claimant, the Commission did not accept the claimant's version of the events. The Commission essentially found that the claimant was not acting under the direction of his employer at the time of the accident, nor was the claimant performing an act reasonably incident to an assigned duty of his employment.
We find no sound basis in the record to disturb the Commission's findings. In the instant case, claimant was not compelled, as a condition of his employment, to obtain medical treatment on the date and time he chose. Both the claimant's supervisor and the company nurse testified that the claimant was neither authorized nor obligated to keep this particular appointment at the clinic. As a result, claimant's travel to the medical clinic was not a required duty of his employment.
Alternatively, claimant contends that he was performing an act incident to a statutory duty of employment at the time of his knee injury. We disagree. The claimant's presence at the employer-approved clinic for follow-up medical treatment after his regular working hours was not an act pursuant to any duty of employment, statutory or otherwise. Consequently, the claimant's knee injury, which occurred shortly after the completion of the claimant's follow-up medical treatment during travel away from the clinic, was not an injury sustained incident to a duty of employment.
Some jurisdictions have adopted the position that injuries sustained during travel to or from medical treatment for work-related injuries are compensable, because the Workers' Compensation Act imposes a statutory duty on employees to submit to employer-provided medical treatment for work-related injuries, and the provisions of the Act are an implied part of the employment contract. (See, e.g., Taylor v. Centex Construction Co. (1963), 191 Kan. 130, 379 P.2d 217; Moreau v. Zayre Corp. (Me.1979), 408 A.2d 1289, 1294; 1 A. Larson, Law of Workmen's Compensation § 13:13, at 3-573 (1994).) The Kansas Supreme Court adopted this view in Taylor v. Centex...
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