New York: Subway Employee’s Assault Claim Barred by Going and Coming Rule

A New York appellate court recently affirmed a decision of the state’s Workers’ Compensation Board that denied a claim filed by a subway train cleaner for injuries he incurred as he disembarked from a subway as he traveled to his home after the end of a work shift. The assault took place a mere five minutes after the worker had clocked out to head home. The claimant contended that the injury was still within the course and scope of the employment because he wore his official jacket, safety vest, and hat that identified him clearly as a subway employee. The court was unconvinced by that argument, holding the claim was barred by the going and coming rule.

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 Warner v New York City Tr. Auth., 2019 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 3131 (Apr. 25, 2019)

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 15.02.

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

For a more detailed discussion of the case, see