New York: Deviation to Get Beer/See Girlfriend Sink Farm Worker’s Claim

Where a New York farm worker took a short break to get a beer and see his girlfriend, who was moving her belongings into the worker’s employer-provided residence located across the road from the employer’s farm, that deviation was sufficient to remove the worker from the course and scope of his employment. Accordingly, it was not error for the Board to deny the worker’s claim for benefits in connection with serious injuries he sustained in a vehicular accident that occurred when the worker decided to return to work, crossed back over the road, but failed to yield the right of way to an oncoming vehicle.

Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the 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 Matter of Button v Button, 2018 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 7753 (3d Dept., Nov. 15, 2018)

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 17.01.

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

For a more detailed discussion of the case, See