19 Feb 2021

New Jersey: Cook’s Injury at Employer’s “Family Fun Day” Was Compensable

Because an employee’s duties at her employer’s “Family Fun Day” were essentially the same as her normal duties—she was a cook—her workers’ compensation claim for injuries sustained when she stepped in a small pothole, injuring her ankle, was not barred by a New Jersey statute that excludes from coverage those injuries sustained during social and recreational activities [see N.J.S.A. 34:15-7, s ], held the Supreme Court of New Jersey. Acknowledging that the employee’s attendance at the employer-sponsored event was not compulsory, the Court stressed that the employee would not have been asked to cook at the event had she not been generally employed as a cook. The Court also indicated the employer received a benefit that was beyond mere improvement in employee health and morale.

Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the co-Editor-in-Chief and Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter, is co-author of Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law(LexisNexis).

LexisNexis Online Subscribers: Citations below link to Lexis Advance.

See Goulding v. NJ Friendship House, 2021 N.J. LEXIS 126 (Feb. 8, 2021)

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 22.04.

Source: Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, the nation’s leading authority on workers’ compensation law

For a more detailed discussion of the case, see