Oregon: Injuries Sustained During “Orientation” Session Found Compensable

Where claimant had applied for a position with the purported employer, had been advised by that employer to attend an "orientation" and a paid training day, had arrived at the purported employer’s office at the appointed day and time, and then sustained a hip fracture when another worker suddenly opened a heavy stairwell door, knocking claimant to the floor, claimant was entitled to workers’ compensation benefits for her injuries. The court held the state’s Workers’ Compensation Board erred when it affirmed an order of an ALJ denying benefits on the basis that claimant did not complete the orientation and was, therefore, not an employee. The so-called orientation only required the presentation of photo identification, the completion of personnel paperwork, and agreement with the employer’s "rules of the office," including its sexual harassment policy, productivity expectations, and dress code. The branch manager admitted that had claimant not been injured, she would almost assuredly have been hired. 

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

LexisNexis Online Subscribers: Citations below link to Lexis Advance. 

See Meyers v. SAIF Corp., 291 Ore. App. 331, 2018 Ore. App. LEXIS 494 (Apr. 18, 2018)

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 26.02.

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