Under the Personal Convenience Doctrine, is an injury sustained while the employee is changing the car’s oil and waiting for work to start compensable?

• A. Only the car is on company property
• B. No
• C. Yes
• D. Only if the employee was on a break

Answer: (C)

Under the Personal Convenience Doctrine, injuries that occur on the employer’s premises during personal activities that are reasonably connected to being able to perform work can be compensable. In this scenario, the employee is on company property and performing a routine personal car maintenance task while waiting to start work. Because the activity takes place on premises the employer provides and the employee remains under the employer’s control during this waiting period, the injury is considered part of the work environment rather than purely personal time. Therefore, the injury is compensable.