NAVIGATING THE COMPENSABILITY OF INJURIES THAT OCCUR AT SOCIAL OR RECREATIONAL EVENTS

In Nebraska, injuries that occur during an employer-sponsored recreational or social event are potentially compensable even though they are not part of an employee’s typical work duties. Whether or not these activities are “in the course of” employment is the key issue for determining whether an injury is compensable. In the case of Shade v. Ayars & Ayars, Inc., the Nebraska Supreme Court used three factors to weigh this issue:

1. Whether they occur on the premises during a lunch or recreational period as a regular incident of employment; or
2. The employer, by expressly or impliedly requiring participation, or by making the activity part of the services of an employee, brings the activity within the orbit of the employment; or
3. The employer derives substantial direct benefit from the activity beyond the intangible value of improvement in employee health and morale that is common to all kinds of recreational and social life.

Shade v. Ayars & Ayars, Inc., 247 Neb. 94, 525 N.W.2d 32 (1994). The Court then indicated that if a claimant could prove any one of these three prongs as being satisfied, that was enough to make the injury compensable. Id.

The Supreme Court addressed these factors again in the case of Jacobitz v. Aurora Cooperative, where an employee fell off a truck during a customer appreciation dinner held by his employer. The trial court found the accident compensable because the employee believed that he had to attend the event and that the employer received a “substantial benefit” from the employee’s participation in the customer appreciation dinner. Jacobitz v. Aurora Cooperative, 291 Neb. 349, 865 N.W.2d 353 (2015).

The Supreme Court held that the trial court needed to consider whether the benefit to the employer was both substantial and direct; thus, the lower court had applied the wrong legal standard. Id. The Court then went on to state that for a benefit to the employer to be direct, it must be free from outside influence, immediate, or otherwise characterized as a close logical causal, or consequential, relationship. Id.

This post was drafted by Connor Hansen, a law clerk at Baylor Evnen Wolfe & Tannehill. If you have questions about how a social event tied to employment impacts a claim, or any other questions regarding Nebraska workers’ compensation, please reach out to Paul Barta or Adam Barrett at (402) 475-1075.