Deviation from work to obtain feminine hygiene products a temporary departure. Injuries are compensable.

Approximately six hours into her shift, and with her supervisor’s permission, the claimant drove a tug from the terminal where she was located to another terminal in order to meet her mother. The claimant’s mother brought her feminine hygiene products, money and other items she had requested just after she reported for work. While the claimant was driving the tug, it flipped and trapped her left leg, which had to be amputated below the knee. The Commonwealth Court agreed with the Workers’ Compensation Judge and the Appeal Board that the claimant was in the course and scope of her employment at the time she suffered her injury. According to the court, the claimant’s conduct fit within the Personal Comfort Doctrine, which holds that an employee does not fall outside the course of employment for a momentary departure from active work in order to attend to “personal comfort,” such as using the restroom, changing contact lenses, etc. 

_{Case Law Alerts, 3rd Quarter, July 2017}

_{Case Law Alerts is prepared by Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin to provide information on recent developments of interest to our readers. This publication is not intended to provide legal advice for a specific situation or to create an attorney-client relationship. Copyright © 2017 Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin, all rights reserved. This article may not be reprinted without the express written permission of our firm.}