An employee who does not receive mileage reimbursement for use of his 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 a personal errand.
• B. Deny due to personal errand not related to work.
• C. Accept because of the personal comfort doctrine.
• D. Delay and investigate.

Answer: (C)

The key idea is the personal comfort doctrine, which determines when a worker’s injury remains within the course of employment during breaks or incidental stops. If an employee’s activity during a break is reasonably necessary or customary to perform the job or to enable continued performance, the stop is considered part of the work period even though it includes a personal element.

In this scenario, going to the bank to cash a paycheck during an unpaid lunch hour is not a random personal errand unrelated to work. It is a reasonably necessary step tied to the employee’s ability to continue working and to receive wages connected to the job. The stop is incidental to the work activity and not a substantial deviation from employment purposes. Therefore, injuries that occur on the way to the bank are within the scope of employment and compensable under workers’ compensation.

Denying coverage as a pure personal errand would ignore the way the personal comfort doctrine recognizes that certain routine, work-related needs during breaks can keep an employee functioning and paid. Delaying a decision or focusing on lack of mileage reimbursement isn’t needed here, because the injury falls under the scope of employment due to its connection to ongoing work duties and pay.