Greetings, in the last few weeks I have had several questions about company vehicles and the impact on compensability.

Normally, an employee’s trip to and from work is not compensable under the Going or Coming rule.  There are exceptions of course for Traveling Employees, Special Errands, etc…and there is also an exception for transportation that is provided by the employer.

In my opinion, this is one of the most confusing and poorly worded sections of the statute:

440.092( 2) GOING OR COMING.—An injury suffered while going to or coming from work is not an injury arising out of and in the course of employment whether or not the employer provided transportation if such means of transportation was available for the exclusive personal use by the employee, unless the employee was engaged in a special errand or mission for the employer.

In plain-speak, if the claimant can treat the company vehicle like its his or her own car, then it is not going to be compensable.  If there are rules around the use of the vehicle, such as can only be driven to and from work, and the employer enforces those rules, then accidents to and from work may likely be compensable.

The rationale is the claimant is still under the employer’s control if there are rules that are enforced.  On the clock or not doesn’t matter. Always check to make sure the employer actually enforces the rules, and that there was not a significant deviation.

I don’t know why they couldn’t just say that, but they didn’t ask me.