ARISING OUT OF and in the COURSE OF EMPLOYMENT

 

The usual statutory phrase describing the injuries and illnesses covered by workers' compensation and typically used in policy forms to describe the coverage. "Arising out of employment" means that there must be a causal relationship between the job and its duties and how the injury or disease occurred. "In the course of employment" refers to the time, place and circumstances of the injury or disease.

 

COURSE AND SCOPE OF EMPLOYMENT

 

COURSE and SCOPE of employment are two different legal concepts, both of which must be present for the victim to be considered as “working” at the time of the accident.

 

For a victim to be considered within the course of employment at the time of the accident, the accident had to happen within the circumstances, time, and place of the victim’s job, and be directly related to the victim’s employment.  It had to happen during the victim’s working hours, or at the place of work.

 

The scope of employment refers to everything an employee does that is connected with the performance of the employee’s work.  This includes such diverse matters as the employee using the toilet facilities, getting a drink of water from the water cooler, or making a delivery while on his way home from work.