An employee arrives at work and is hit by a passerby in the company parking lot. Under the going and coming rule, how is the injury generally classified for workers' compensation?

• A. Compensable
• B. Noncompensable
• C. Compensable b/c the ER is required to provide a safe place to work
• D. Noncompensable due to the going and coming rule

Answer: (D)

The going-and-coming rule says injuries that happen while an employee is traveling to or from the workplace are generally not compensable. In this case, the employee was arriving at work and was struck in the company parking lot—an incident tied to the commute rather than to performing job duties. Because the injury occurred during travel to the job, it is outside the course and scope of employment for workers’ compensation. The fact that someone else caused the injury doesn’t change that. There are exceptions to the rule, but they don’t apply here, so the injury is noncompensable.