Failure to prove decedent died in course/scope of employment-found dead in home office-since evidence insufficient as to how, when, what decedent was doing at time he sustained injury leading to his death.

The decedent, an international sales manager who worked out of his house or at the employer's facility when not traveling, was found dead in his home office by his wife. The evidence established that the decedent had communicated work-related e-mails and phone calls that morning while working from home due to a non-work injury that prevented him from making a sales trip. The employer provided the decedent with a computer, phone and other home office equipment and reimbursed him for home office-related expenses. The evidence indicated that the decedent died from blunt force head trauma, and blood was found on the stairs outside the front door of the house and in a bathroom, but there was no evidence as to how, when and where the decedent was injured and, more particularly, what he was doing at the time.

The Commonwealth Court affirmed the decisions of the Workers' Compensation Judge and the Appeal Board denying the fatal claim petition on the basis that the claimant failed to establish through competent evidence that the decedent died in the course and scope of his employment. The claimant tried to establish a claim under the "personal comfort" doctrine, which provides that when an employee sustains an injury during an inconsequential or innocent departure from work during regular work hours, it is nonetheless considered to have been sustained in furtherance of the employer's business. The court rejected this argument because the record was unclear as to the circumstances of the decedent's death. While the claimant contended that the circumstances suggested the decedent slipped and hit his head while outside smoking a cigarette, the court held that this was speculative at best.

Case Law Alert - 1st Qtr 2012