February 2, 2017
Harry Nace (name changed for this summary) was injured when he broke his right ankle getting into his car to attend Defendant’s Christmas party/fundraiser in Wood, PA. SWIF, the workers’ compensation carrier for the employer, issued a Workers’ Compensation Denial on January 4, 2016, reporting that the injury did not occur within the scope of his employment. We subsequently filed a Claim Petition.
Mr. Nace testified that he worked as a fire captain. He was asked by the president of the Defendant to dress as Santa Clause for a fundraiser. When he was getting into his car, his right foot slipped out from underneath him because of the large Santa suit that he was wearing. Mr. Nace’s spouse then drove him to the fundraiser. Upon arriving at the fundraiser, Mr. Nace fell out of the car onto his right side and had to be taken by ambulance to a hospital for treatment.
The parties entered into a Stipulation in which it was agreed that he sustained an injury described as a nondisplaced medial malleolar fracture of the right tibia. The parties reserved to the Workers’ Compensation Judge as to the issue of whether Mr. Nace was acting in the scope in which members of volunteer fire departments may be considered an employee and whether he was in the course and scope of that employment at the time of injury.
Although commuting to and from work is not in the course of employment, we argued that Mr. Nace was on a special assignment from the employer. He was in a Santa suit being driven by his wife to board a water truck which would have then transported him to the fundraiser. The Judge found that these factors made the circumstances substantially different than ordinary circumstances of commuting.
The Judge found that Mr. Nace was a covered employee under the Act and that he was on a special mission on the date of his injury and was in the course of employment when he was injured. The Judge granted Mr. Nace’s Claim Petition and the Stipulation. Mr. Nace was awarded payment of his past due to TTD wage loss benefits along with statutory interest. Calhoon and Kaminsky P.C., was pleased to win this difficult workers’ compensation case for Mr. Nace.
