An accountant took work home for an annual report. The employee left work at the normally appointed hour and was not reimbursed for mileage. The employee was injured in an auto accident at an intersection one block from home and his supervisor calls to tell you they found paperwork for the end of the year report iin his briefcase in the car. You should:

• A. Delay and investigate.
• B. Accept as an exception to the coming and going rule.
• C. Deny.
• D. Close the file.

Answer: (B)

The going-and-coming rule is that injuries while traveling to or from work are usually not covered, but there are exceptions when the travel itself is for a work purpose. Here, the employee was taking work home to finish an annual report and a supervisor later found paperwork in the car. That shows the trip home was not purely personal; the employee was performing authorized job duties during the travel. Because the injury occurred while carrying out work-related tasks on the way home, it fits an exception to the going-and-coming rule. Therefore, the claim should be accepted as an exception to the rule.