Virginia: Plumber's Injuries in Step from Work Van Not Compensable

An experienced plumber, who sustained a knee injury when he stepped from the rear door of his service van did not sustain an injury arising out of and in the course of the employment, held a Virginia appellate court. Applying the state's "actual risk" rule, the court indicated there was nothing particularly unusual in the event that could support a finding that his risk of injury arose from the employment. Under Virginia's rule, simple acts of walking, bending, turning, or even climbing stairs are not considered risks of the employment unless there is additional proof of some sort of contributing environmental factor from the work. There was no question, said the court, that the injury was in the course of the plumber's employment. But the "arising out of" test and the "course of" test could not be conjoined.

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).

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See Reynolds v. Falletta Enters., 2021 Va. App. LEXIS 10 (Jan. 26, 2020)

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 3.04.

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

For a more detailed discussion of the case, see

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