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Steinberg v. South Dakota Department of Military and Veterans Affairs3/15/2000
here. The employee in Walz worked the hours 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with an unpaid lunch break from 11:30 p.m. to 12:00 p.m. "Employees were free to leave the premises during the lunch break, and doing so was an accepted practice. After exiting the building at approximately 11:30 a.m., [Employee] slipped and fell on ice in Employer's parking lot, fracturing her right wrist." Walz, 1996 SD 135, , 556 NW2d at 69. This Court also stated:
[Employee's accident occurred] during her lunch break and still on Employer's premises. It cannot be ignored that she had a lunch break because she was at work. She would not have been in Employer's parking lot if she had not been working that day. See Phillips v. John Morrell & Co., 484 NW2d 527, 530 (SD 1992) (holding injury "arose out of" employment when claimant would not have become injured but for the fact that he was at work.) Id. , 556 NW2d at 72.
[ ] There also exists the principle that travel between two parts of the employer's premises is compensable. "By establishing or sponsoring a parking lot not contiguous to the working premises, the employer has created the necessity for encountering the hazards lying between these two portions of the premises." 1 Larson's Workers' Compensation Law § 13.01 , at 13-9 to 13-10. Here, Steinberg worked in Building 603, one of the six buildings located in the Camp Rapid complex containing facility management offices. When Steinberg left for lunch on March 3, she stepped out of Building 603, and began to cross the camp road between Building 603 and 703, heading for a small parking lot where her car was parked. This parking lot was provided by DMVA for the use of Steinberg and other employees. Halfway across this road, Steinberg slipped, fell and was injured to the extent she eventually had to have two discs removed from her neck by surgery.
[ ] DMVA's argument with regard to this issue rests upon the premise that the source of Steinberg's injury (slipping on ice) was a natural phenomenon and a risk common to all in the Rapid City area. In Nippert v. Shinn Farm Const. Co., 388 NW2d 820 (Neb 1986), the court rejected the increased risk rule now advocated by DMVA. The court concluded the better rule is that "an employee's injuries are compensable as long as his employment duties put him in a position that he might not otherwise be in which exposes him to a risk, even though the risk is not greater than that of the general public." Id. at 822. In 1 Larson's Workers' Compensation Law § 8.12 at 3-23 (1985), this rule is specifically explained as follows:
hen one in the course of his employment is reasonably required to be at a particular place at a particular time and there meets with an accident, although one which any other person then and there present would have met with irrespective of his employment, that accident is one 'arising out of' the employment of the person so injured. Nippert, 388 NW2d at 822.
The court concluded by stating " he record shows that Nippert's employment required him to be in the area where the tornado struck. The record also reflects that the storm caused Nippert's injuries." Id.
[ ] Consider the employee who has an accident while driving a state vehicle while on a work-related errand or excursion. Under DMVA's approach, that employee is precluded from compensation for this work-related injury simply because driving is a risk or hazard to which the general public is exposed. Under this standard many employees would not be able to recover compensation for their employment-related injuries. Any claims of employer-based negligence would be barred by SDCL 62-3-2, leaving the injured employee without a remedy against the employer.
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