Many employers allowed their employees to conduct work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, but now a fair amount of employers are calling their employees back to the office or transitioning to a hybrid work environment. We’ve talked about workers’ compensation benefits for remote workers on the blog in the past, but a recent case put hybrid workers under the microscope and called on Minnesota’s little known “special errand exception.”
Special Errand Exception
The woman at the center of the case is Cindy Ludwig, and she brought her company supplies home so that she could continue working after Dakota County issued a stay-at-home order in March of 2020. In September of 2021, she was told she’d be returning to the office as part of a hybrid role, and on the day in question, she loaded up her supplies in the back of her van. In the process of loading supplies, she fell on her back and suffered injuries to her discs and joints. She returned to work a week later, but needed a cane to get around. A little over a month later, Ludwig fell at work and hit her head and knees and was prescribed a spinal cord stimulator. Six months after that, she fell at home and hurt her ankle.
Ludwig filed a workers’ compensation claim seeking payment for medical expenses and her lost wages, seeking compensation under Minnesota’s special errand exception. That exception states that an employee is eligible for compensation if they suffer injuries while carrying out an errand for their employer.
Ludwig’s claim was initially denied by a workers’ compensation judge who ruled that bringing her equipment back into the office was “part of her commute,” and therefore not a time when she would be considered on the clock and eligible for benefits. Ludwig and her legal team appealed the case to the Minnesota Workers’ Compensation Court of Appeals. They overturned the original ruling, arguing that Ludwig was returning her equipment at her employer’s request and the special errand exception applied.
Dakota County appealed the case to the Minnesota Supreme Court, who unanimously agreed with the Court of Appeals, granting Ludwig the benefits she sought.
Justice Sarah Hennesy noted in her opinion that when Ludwig was told to come back to the office, she was advised to return all her equipment “before working hours” so that she could set up her workstation and begin normal duties on time that day. Judge Hennesy also wrote that returning the office equipment was an integral part of her job and a special request that was not regular or recurring during normal hours of employment or her daily commute.
In the ruling, Judge Hennesy made it clear that this case is not meant to open a Pandora’s box for commute-related compensation claims.
“This case does not concern an employee’s regular day-to-day commute pursuant to an established hybrid work schedule,” Hennesy wrote. “Ludwig’s injury occurred while she was returning to her office with her equipment for the first time following a prolonged work-from-home order during the pandemic, to begin – for the first time – a new hybrid work schedule.”
You don’t see many special errand cases get approved in Minnesota, but this unique case shows that the law needs to be applied on a claim by claim basis. It’s wonderful to see that this woman got the compensation she deserves.
For unique cases or more run-of-the-mill claims, connect with the team at Hey Workers today at (844) 439-9675.
