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Case v. Case12/16/2004
Suffolk.
October 12, 2004.
Workers' Compensation Act, Recreational activities.
The issue before the Department of Industrial Accidents and this court is whether the employee was engaged in a "purely voluntary" recreational activity when she was injured while skiing on March 13, 1999. The reviewing board summarily affirmed an administrative judge's determination that the employee was not engaged in a purely voluntary recreational activity, and thus was entitled to a closed period of temporary total incapacity and medical benefits stemming from injuries she sustained in the skiing accident. G. L. c. 152, ยงยง 1(7A), 34, 13, 30. The employer sought judicial review. Because the administrative judge erred as matter of law in concluding that the employee was not barred from receiving compensation for her injury, the decision of the reviewing board must be reversed.
The following relevant facts may be summarized from the administrative judge's decision. The employer, Millennium Events Corporation, coordinates cultural, social, and recreational events for client companies. At all times relevant to this action, it employed the employee as an event coordinator. In January of 1999, the employee became the sole event coordinator for an employee appreciation program that was instituted by one of the employer's client companies. In that role, she coordinated various events for the program, including a weekend ski trip to Stowe, Vermont, for the client's employees. As the event coordinator of the Stowe trip, the employee obtained and distributed ski lift tickets, coordinated matters with the hotel, provided snacks and movies for the bus ride to Stowe, responded to the needs of the client's employees, arranged transportation from the hotel to the ski area (mountain), and arranged a bus tour of Stowe. Although the employee accompanied the client's employees on the trip, she did not accompany them to the mountain when they went skiing.
After returning from the trip, the employee met with the president of the employer, Gregg Nourjian. Nourjian asked the employee how the skiing went and seemed very surprised when she responded that she had not skied. He also asked the employee whether she had at least accompanied the skiers to the mountain and voiced his surprise to her response that she had not. Nourjian then told her "that she should at least go to the mountain to make sure that all went well for the" client's employees while they were there.
In March of 1999, the employee coordinated a second ski trip to Stowe as part of the client company's employee appreciation program. This time, Nourjian gave the employee permission to have a friend accompany her on the trip. On the first day of the trip, the employee accompanied the client's employees to the mountain, and after completing her task of assuring that everyone was already skiing, the employee and her friend skied, had lunch together, and then resumed skiing. That afternoon, while skiing with her friend, the employee severely injured her right leg.
The administrative judge found "that the employee was not actively guiding the tour group down the mountain, nor was she directly performing the specific functions of her work while skiing." The administrative judge found that the employer absorbed the cost of the friend's ski lift ticket into the overall cost of the event, that " he employer obviously wanted the employee to perform her duties but, given the nature of her job, she was also authorized to attend and enjoy the events involved along with the clients," and that " lthough she was never specifically directed to attend any of the events [she organized,] . . . she reasonably felt encouraged
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