The North Carolina Court of Appeal’s decision on the worker’s compensation claim in the case of Lennon v. N.C. Judicial Department addressed the issue regarding an employer’s responsibility when an employee is injured during a holiday party.
The plaintiff in the case, Melissa Lennon, was employed as a deputy clerk for the Harnett County Clerk of Court’s Office accounting division. Every year, the Clerk’s Office held a holiday party for its employees.
The responsibility of hosting that party rotated, and each year, a different division was in charge of planning the event, choosing a caterer and menu, maintaining the guest list, and collecting money from employees to purchase gifts for the Clerk of the Superior Court and maintenance employees, as well as funds for the party clean-up fee.
In 2013, the holiday party responsibility fell to the accounting division and Ms. Lennon was actively involved in that planning. She designed the invitations, planned the program, and chose the caterer and menu for the event.
All of these activities were done during regular business hours, while she was being paid. The plaintiff also volunteered to emcee the party, which was being held at the Chicora Country Club in Dunn, North Carolina.
Employees were not charged to attend the party because the cost of renting the venue, as well as the cost of the food, was being paid for by a group of private attorneys.
However, all employees of the Clerk’s Office – whether they planned on attending or not – were required to pay $13 toward the cost of the party cleanup and the gifts.
The night of the party, as the plaintiff was walking into the country club, she tripped and fell, resulting in a broken wrist and tailbone, as well as injuries to her shoulder.
After the fall, she received short-term disability and filed for workers’ compensation benefits for the medical expenses for her injuries, the time she missed from work, and permanent partial disability.
The Clerk’s Office insurance carrier denied her claim and she filed an appeal with the North Carolina Industrial Commission. The deputy commissioner also denied her claim.
Ms. Lennon then filed an appeal with the commission, however, the full commission affirmed the deputy commissioner’s decision, finding that attending the holiday party did not fall within the plaintiff’s course and scope of employment.
In their decision, the commission wrote that not only was the attendance of the party not mandatory, it was not even sponsored by the defendant in the case, the County Clerk’s Office.
Ms. Lennon filed an appeal of the commission’s decision with the appellate court. However, the court affirmed the commission’s decision and denied Ms. Lennon’s claim, also agreeing that attending the holiday party did not fall within her work duties.
In its decision, the court wrote that the plaintiff was not required to attend the party, citing that the defendant had never included attendance to the party as a requirement for whoever was in charge of planning the event.
Personal injury attorney Ben Whitley commented, “This case highlights the sometimes gray areas that can develop around worker’s compensation cases and the difficulty that can result from trying to collect what you feel is rightfully owed to you.”
