Workers’ compensation benefits cover nearly any injury you sustain while at work. This includes injuries that happen outside your actual work site, but any place where you are required to be for the purpose of doing your job. If your job includes driving or taking public transportation between locations, an accident or injury during your travels would be covered under workers’ compensation insurance.
However, Montana workers’ compensation (and most other states’) does not include benefits for your commute to and from your job if you’re injured during that time.
Like many aspects of the law, there are some exceptions to this rule.
- Special assignment or task. You could be eligible for workers’ compensation if you were performing a task or running an errand for your employer that is outside of your regular job duties, even if it was on your way to or from work. For instance, if your employer asked you to pick up their dry cleaning and you slipped on a wet floor at the cleaners, you might have a claim if it’s considered part of your job. The same might be the case if you are asked to grab coffee or breakfast for the office on your way in. If it’s a task you would not be doing but for the fact that you were instructed to by your employer, and if you’re “on the clock” (i.e. getting paid your salary or hourly wage) while running the errand, it would be considered in the course of your employment.
- Work-related travel. If your job requires you to travel as part of your work duties (e.g., salespeople, delivery drivers), and you are injured while driving to a work-related location, you may be covered by workers' compensation. For example, if you don’t “clock in” at your work location but instead travel to client meetings, work sites, conferences, or other places straight from your home, then this could be considered work-related travel.
Likewise, if you don’t have a specific workplace or work remotely but travel to various sites, you could be compensated for injuries during that travel time. - Employer-provided transportation. If you use a vehicle provided by your employer for work-related purposes (not provided to you for convenience, but for the purpose of transportation to your job), any accident or injury could be covered by Montana workers’ compensation.
In addition, if you’re paid for your commuting time, then any injuries could be covered. - Hazardous conditions. If your employer requires you to take a specific route or use a particular mode of transportation that exposes you to unusual hazards, you might be able to file a claim if you're injured during the commute.
- Mixing work and personal. Even if you’re doing something personal while on a work trip, if the work-related aspect is substantial, an injury might be covered. For instance, you have to travel to New York City for a two-day conference. While there, you have dinner with an old friend. On your way back to your hotel from dinner, you trip on a sidewalk crack and break your ankle. It’s possible that you could receive workers’ compensation for this injury if the accommodations were set up by your Montana employer for the purpose of doing something related to your job.
- Emergencies or call-outs. If an employee is called to duty at a location other than their normal workplace, their time spent traveling to that work site from home and back again would be considered work time, just like if they were traveling between work sites. This is a special circumstance, according to the Montana Department of Labor & Industry. An example could be a utility worker or first responder who is called to work during a weather emergency or other hazardous condition.
Examples of how Montana workers’ compensation might be applied to work travel scenarios
If an employee is injured during travel time, here are some examples and how they might be handled by the Montana Department of Labor & Industry.
- An employee drives to work each morning. They leave home at 7am and report to work at 7:45. The time between when they leave their house and when they arrive at work is not eligible for workers’ compensation.
- A home health aide goes to their office location and checks in for the day and receives their schedule. They then get back in their car and drive to the first client home visit. Any travels during the day before they leave for home would be eligible for workers’ compensation benefits. If they leave the last client’s house and head straight for their own home, that would not be compensable time.
- Two co-workers carpool to work. They coordinate rides by using their personal phones and it’s not set up through the employer. Their drive time to and from work would not be covered under workers’ compensation.
- A group of nurses employed by a hospital are required to attend an off-site training for two days. They fly to the training location in another city. They each take an Uber to the airport, fly to the location, and participate in training for the day. They were supposed to fly home in the evening but their flight is canceled and they end up staying overnight and flying home the following morning. The time in between when their flight is canceled and when they depart the following day is not work time. Even though they are on work travel, they then have the evening to themselves and are not participating in work activities at that time. Their flight home in the morning would be considered work time, but driving home from the airport would not.
These are just examples, of course. There are a variety of other situations that might arise involving a Montana worker’s transportation to and from their job.
Every situation is nuanced. If you have a circumstance that you believe makes you eligible for Montana workers’ compensation benefits but you’ve been denied, contact the Murphy Law Firm today for guidance and to handle your claim.