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Chavis v. TLC Home Health Care8/16/2005
Under the Workers' Compensation Act, a traveling employee is in the course of employment once a personal deviation has been completed and the direct business route has been resumed. Cauble v. Soft-Play, Inc., 124 N.C. App. 526, 529, 477 S.E.2d 678, 679 (1996), disc. review denied, 345 N.C. 751, 485 S.E.2d 49 (1997). In this case, Plaintiff-Employee traveled to a patient's home, left on a personal errand, and was injured in an automobile accident on her return to the patient's home. Because the personal errand wascomplete and Plaintiff had resumed her business travel route, we hold that the accident occurred in the course of her employment making her injury compensable. Accordingly, we affirm the full Commission's Opinion and Award on this and other issues presented on appeal.
The evidence from the record on appeal tends to show that Plaintiff Leigh Ann Chavis, a certified nursing assistant ("CNA"), worked as a "runner" for Defendant TLC Home Health Care. As a "runner," Ms. Chavis traveled to multiple patients' homes in a single day. TLC Home Health Care reimbursed Ms. Chavis for the mileage she incurred from her home to the first patient's home , to and from each patient's home, and from her last patient's home to her home. TLC Home Health Care paid Ms. Chavis an hourly wage only for the time she spent in-home with the patient and not for the travel time.
On 26 October 2000, Ms. Chavis drove to her first patient's home at 8:00 a.m. to perform three-and-a-half hours of work. However, upon arriving at the home, the patient, Linda Galegos, informed Ms. Chavis that she was leaving to take care of some business at school. Ms. Galegos informed Ms. Chavis that she would be back home in approximately twenty minutes.
TLC Home Health Care had a policy that did not permit Ms. Chavis to wait in a patient's home when the patient was not there. But TLC Home Health Care had no written policy on what Ms. Chavis should have done when a patient told her to wait twenty minutes. Ms. Chavis testified that, on a previous occasion, BarbaraLocklear, TLC Home Health Care's scheduling supervisor, informed her to "just go get something to eat or just do something till the time she come (sic) back, but if she's going to be gone more than an hour or two, you have to go to another client." But Ms. Locklear testified that in that situation Ms. Chavis should have called TLC Home Health Care to see if she should be immediately assigned to another patient.
Ms. Chavis told Ms. Galegos that she would meet her back at her home. Ms. Chavis then drove directly to her father's place of employment, dropped off his wallet, and drove directly back to Ms. Galegos's house. While driving back to Ms. Galegos's house, Ms. Chavis blacked out and ran her car off the road into the side of a church, sustaining injuries to her right foot. Ms. Chavis's father contacted Ms. Locklear that day to inform her of the accident.
Ms. Chavis came under the care of George Dawson, III, M.D. for the injuries to her right foot. Dr. Dawson applied a soft cast, and Ms. Chavis was unable to walk without crutches for several months. On 10 November 2000, Dr. Dawson recommended that Ms. Chavis be out of work for a four-month period. On 6 April 2001, Dr. Dawson gave her a note to return to working regular duty on 9 April 2001. Before returning to work in April 2001, Ms. Chavis contacted TLC Home Health Care to inquire about sedentary work but was told none was available. Nonetheless, Ms. Chavis's contract was not terminated. Ms. Chavis filed a claim for workers' compensation which TLC Home Health Care denied. The claim came for a hearing before Deputy Commissioner Ronnie E. Rowell, who awardedMs. Chavis temporary total disabil
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