Annals of Compensability: A Cop’s Coffee Break

September 14th, 2012 by

Whether in a local coffee shop or a Dunkin Donuts (but never a Starbucks?), the coffee break is an iconic moment in the routine of a police officer and thus appropriate fodder for our Friday blog.
Carolyn McDermed, a lieutenant in the Eugene, Oregon, police department, left her desk in the station and walked across the street to purchase coffee. She planned to drink it at her desk. Unfortunately, she was struck by a car and suffered multiple injuries. Her claim for workers comp revolved around one central issue: was she on a personal errand or “in the course and scope” of employment? Was she on a break or on call?
An administrative law judge ruled that McDermed was indeed working; the ruling was upheld recently by the Oregon Court of Appeals.
McDermed worked in the Office of Professional Standards; she managed her own time and took breaks when she felt like it. But unlike most of us, who can leave our work behind when we head out for coffee, McDermed was still prepared to do her job. She carried her cell phone and might be required to return to her office on a moment’s notice. Indeed, her coffee breaks were not without incident: one time she witnessed an auto accident and administered first aid; another time she escorted a woman fearful of a stalker to the latter’s office; and when a vehicle caught fire near her office, she applied a fire extinguisher and exerted crowd control. As a well-known, 17 year veteran of the force, she found herself frequently answering questions out in public about community law enforcement concerns. No wonder she would take the coffee back to her desk, where she could at least enjoy it in relative quiet.
Public safety officers are a bit like comic book heroes: they are expected to respond to public need at a moment’s notice. Thus, even though there were no safety issues on the day of the accident, McDermed was prepared to respond had something arisen. She was on duty and on call. Her work environment was not limited to her desk in the police station, where most of her duties were performed.
In the Course of Employment
The appeals court clarified the concept of “in the course of” employment:

An injury occurs ‘in the course of’ employment if it takes place within the period of employment, at a place where a worker reasonably may be expected to be, and while the worker reasonably is fulfilling the duties of the employment
or is doing something reasonably incidental to it.”

It is possible to extend the implications of this ruling to the point where public safety officers are on call 24/7. When the police encounter a circumstance requiring intervention or assistance, they are obligated to respond. They might be home in bed, or shopping at a mall with the family, or just moseying across the street for a cup of coffee, but they must be ready for anything and thus they are, potentially at least, at work. Compensability would revolve around what they were doing at the time of the injury and why they were doing it. In McDermed’s case, her taking a break did not sever her availability for service.
So the next time you see some cops taking a coffee break (that shouldn’t take very long), rather than ask whether they could find something better to do, remind yourself that they are on call and at work, unlike most of us, whose coffee breaks really are a break from our daily routines.

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