Unscheduled Breaks and Deviations from the Scope of Employment

As is well established in workers’ compensation law, in order for an injury to be compensable, it must have been sustained in the course and scope of the worker’s employment. However, there can sometimes be a very hazy line between activities that fall within the scope of employment and those that do not, especially when the injured worker sustained his or her injury during an unscheduled break. Whether it be an injury sustained when an employee steps outside to take a personal cell phone call, to run an errand, or during any other unscheduled break, the critical question in determining compensability is whether the injured worker’s “deviation” from employment was of a “slight” or “pronounced” nature.

In Georgia, courts have defined the “deviation rule” to mean that where an employee breaks the continuity of her employment for purposes of her own and is injured before she brings herself back into the line of employment, her injury does not arise out of or in the course of her employment. Stokes v. Coweta County Bd. of Educ., 313 Ga. App. 505 (2012). However, the incident necessary to constitute a break in the employment must be of a pronounced character. Service to the employer is not interrupted when for a brief interval the employee performs a personal errand not forbidden. Hartford Acci. & Indem. Co. v. Souther, 110 Ga. App. 84 (1964). Thus, there is an exception to the general “deviation rule” when the deviation is only of a “slight” nature.

Obviously, such injuries and the determination of their compensability are highly factually sensitive. As a general matter, given the above language, it is a good practice for employers to set clearly defined rules and guidelines for employees regarding the permissibility of tending to personal matters while “on the clock,” as well as with respect to appropriate rest/personal breaks. The more notice an employee has of a particular forbidden act, the better likelihood of mounting a viable defense to injuries sustained during unscheduled breaks.