Coffee Stop on the Way to a Job Site: Compensability, Rate, and the Third-Party Lien

Two doctrines collide: the going-and-coming rule (barring claims for ordinary commuting) and its traveling-employee and personal-comfort exceptions.

Why the going-and-coming rule does not bar this claim:

• The employee was not commuting to a fixed place of employment. He was traveling between the employer's shop and an assigned client site in a company vehicle - a traveling employee whose travel is itself part of the service rendered.
• The employer controlled the vehicle, the route, and the schedule; the trip furthered the employer's business.

Why the coffee detour does not defeat the claim:

• A minor personal deviation that is reasonably incidental to the employment - a scheduled break, a nearby stop, a short duration - typically does not remove the employee from the course of employment. The relevant inquiries are the length of the detour, whether it was on a scheduled break, whether it was substantial in time and distance, and whether the employee had re-entered the employment stream.
• Two miles off route during a mid-morning break is a minor deviation, not an abandonment of employment.

Facts the adjuster must still develop:

• The employer's written break policy and route schedule (was the stop permitted?);
• The duration of the stop (a five-minute purchase versus a 45-minute detour);
• Whether he had completed or resumed his employment mission;
• Any drug/alcohol test results and the store's video.

Conclusion: likely compensable, with a defensible position to investigate rather than a clean denial. The compensability decision should be documented before the carrier asserts a position.

Indemnity calculation (Connecticut):

• Compensation rate = 75% of the average weekly wage.
• AWW must be computed from the 52 weeks of earnings preceding the injury, including overtime and bonuses where they are regular - not just an assumed $1,100 × 52.
• $1,100 × 0.75 = $825.00 per week.
• Ten weeks × $825 = $8,250.

Check the statutory maximum before issuing payment. Connecticut caps weekly benefits at 100% of the state average weekly wage. The adjuster must confirm the currently published maximum from the Workers' Compensation Commission rather than relying on a prior year's figure; if the computed rate exceeds the cap, benefits are paid at the cap, and if the injured worker's wage is low, the form's minimum may apply.

No waiting period issue. Unlike states that impose a 3-to-7-day waiting period, Connecticut pays temporary total disability from the outset of the disability period, so all ten weeks are compensable absent a light-duty offer.

Medical component:

• Pay causally related, reasonable, and necessary treatment per the Connecticut medical fee schedule, not billed charges.
• The $48,000 in bills must be reviewed for unrelated/pre-existing wrist conditions and for surgical authorization.
• The carrier's obligation continues for the accepted wrist injury, including post-operative therapy and any permanency evaluation, which may generate a separate specific indemnity award for the loss of use of the wrist.
• Verify whether the $12,000 already paid was submitted to the Commission as required, and reconcile it against the total.

Reserve to include permanency and potential future medical, not just the ten weeks of TTD.

Yes - the target is a third party, not the employer. Workers' compensation exclusivity bars suit against the employer, but not against a non-employer whose negligence caused the injury. The store owner is a third party.

The carrier's recovery mechanics:

• The carrier has a lien on the employee's third-party recovery for benefits paid - $12,000 in medical so far, plus the $8,250 indemnity and future medical - under Conn. Gen. Stat. §31-293.
• The lien is reduced by the employer/carrier's proportionate share of the employee's reasonable attorney's fees and costs; the carrier does not get a dollar-for-dollar windfall out of the employee's recovery.
• The employee must notify the employer/carrier of the third-party action, and the carrier may intervene in the suit within the statutory window after notice to pursue its interest; if it does not, its lien attaches to the proceeds.
• Settlement of the third-party case without protecting the lien exposes the employee to repaying the carrier from the settlement anyway.

What the adjuster should do now:

1. Put the third-party lien in writing to the employee's counsel and confirm the statutory notice date.
2. Decide whether to intervene or to rely on the lien - intervening preserves direct control and the right to litigate the store's liability; a lien alone risks an under-valued consent judgment.
3. Continue paying benefits promptly; a pending third-party claim is not a basis to suspend compensation.
4. Preserve the ice-condition evidence (three days' notice of the condition, store logs, video) since the carrier's recovery value depends on proving the store's negligence, and comparative fault of the employee may reduce the third-party recovery and therefore the practical lien value.
5. Do not close the file at $12,000 - future medical and permanency are live exposures.