An employee who does not receive mileage reimbursement for his use of car, while on an unpaid lunch hour, is injured while on his way to the bank to cash his paycheck. You should:

• A. deny due to personal errand
• B. deny due to a personal errand not related to work
• C. accept because of the personal comfort doctrine
• D. delay and investigate

Answer: (B)

During a workday, workers’ compensation covers injuries that occur while performing job duties or while engaged in activities reasonably tied to doing the job. A trip taken during an unpaid lunch hour to cash a paycheck is a personal errand and not connected to performing work. Because the injury happened on a personal errand, it falls outside the scope of employment, so it is not compensable. The personal comfort doctrine would apply only to stops that are for the employee’s comfort and reasonably related to continuing work; a bank run for personal finances does not meet that test. Delay isn’t appropriate because the facts show a clear personal errand during a break.