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Custer v. Hartford Insurance Co.8/23/2005
employment to be compensable on the way out, the same should be true of the journey back. . . . The correct rule in these cases is that the return trip from a dual-purpose journey, at any point where it constitutes a return from places that had to be reached for business reasons, is within the course of employment." Larson's Workers Compensation Law, Section 17.02(9)(a) (2004). Accordingly, even if Custer is viewed as having personal reasons for participating in the tournament and even if his trip home was motivated by his personal desire to get home and relax, the fact that his trip to the golf course was clearly necessitated by his employment and served to benefit his employer brings his travel within the dual-purpose doctrine.
Finally, the case law related to injuries sustained while attending or traveling to or from an employer-sponsored social or recreational function is worthy of note.
ll the cases discussed appear to recognize that under appropriate circumstances an injury sustained by an employee while attending or traveling to or from an employer-sponsored social affair may arise out of the course and scope of employment so as to be compensable under workmen's compensation .
The cases reveal that no general rule has been developed which can be applied to all situations for the determination of the circumstances under which the injury may be considered to have arisen out of and in the course of employment, with the result that the determination is made by the consideration of various relevant factors, accorded varying degrees of weight, applied to the particular facts and circumstances of each case. In as much as injuries sustained by an employee in connection with an employer-sponsored event usually occur while the employee is not performing the duties for which he was employed, the inquiry is whether the social affair is sufficiently related to the employment to justify the conclusion that the injury arose out of and in the course of employment. Whether an employee injured while attending or traveling to or from an employer-sponsored social affair was compelled, directly or indirectly to attend, whether the employer derived some benefit from his sponsorship of the function, the extent to which the employer sponsored, controlled, or participated in the activity, and whether the social affair was a benefit or consideration of employment to which the employee was entitled, have been recognized as the primary elements to be considered in determining the compensability of the injury.
Ludwinski, 873 S.W.2d at 892 (quoting Riggen v. Paris Printing Co., 559 S.W.2d 625, 629 (Mo. App. W.D. 1977)) (emphasis added). In the case at bar, the record supports the Commission's finding that Custer was directed by his employer to attend the golf tournament and that he was required by his job to have dinner with agents after the tournament. Hartford sponsored and exerted significant control over the function and did so to further its own business interests. Taken together, these factors weigh in favor of a finding that participation in and travel to and from this employer-sponsored event is compensable.
While Section 287.120.7 was amended subsequent to the preceding cases to preclude coverage for voluntary recreational activities sponsored by the employer, the statute provides an express exception to that provision where the employee is ordered to participate in the activity or program or where the employee was paid wages or travel expenses while participating in the recreational activity or program. Furthermore, the voluntary recreational activity exception does not apply where the employee is conducting business for the employer. Rogers, 972 S.W.2d at 545. More spe
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