Injuries sustained in a parking garage, subsidized by the employer, are within the course and scope of employment and entitle the claimant to an award of benefits.

The employer subsidized a parking program for its employees with the owner of a parking lot and a municipal parking authority. As the claimant was approaching the elevator inside the lot, she tripped and fell to the ground, injuring herself. The claimant filed a claim petition for benefits.

The Commonwealth Court held that the employer-provided parking program was a benefit of employment and immaterial to a determination of whether the parking lot constituted the employer’s premises. The employer did not require employees to rent a space in that particular lot and offered subsidized parking in other lots. The court also concluded that the claimant’s injuries did not occur on the employer’s premises, nor were they caused by a condition of the premises. The claimant admitted that she tripped over her feet and fell while walking to the elevator in the parking garage adjacent to the employer’s premises. As for the premises issue, the court found that the lot was not integral to the employer’s business and rejected the emphasis the claimant, the Board and the Judge placed on the employer’s construction of a skywalk connecting the lot to the building. The skywalk was nothing more than an added convenience for employees who chose to rent a space at the parking lot.

Case Law Alerts, 4th Quarter, October 2014