Claim of Hernandez v. Carpet
The claimant, a sales manager, was injured in a one-car accident while driving home after attending a mandatory evening meeting for his employer in Jamaica, Queens. He had transported two co-employees from the meeting, dropping them off at the store and then another near his home on his direct route to West Haverstraw, New York. The Workers’ Compensation Board initially determined that the injury, sustained on the Sprain Brook Parkway, was compensable as it arose out of and in the course of his employment. The employer and its carrier appealed this decision, arguing that the injury did not meet the criteria for compensability. The appellate court affirmed the Board’s ruling, finding the employer’s arguments unpersuasive and stating that the stops to drop off co-employees on a direct route home from a required work function did not negate the compensable nature of the injury.