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Stroka v. United Airlines11/26/2003
antial benefit to employer." Mikkelsen, supra, 72 N.J. at 214.
Petitioner claims that the inherent risk of her job tied her disability to her work, even though she was not actually on the job at the time of the incident. She cites a line of cases for the proposition that it is not necessary that an injury actually occur during work to be compensable. See Joy v. Florence Pipe Foundry Co., 64 N.J. Super. 13, 21-22 (App. Div. 1960), certif. denied, 34 N.J. 67 (1961) (finding employee's stroke work-related because it was caused in part by stressors from work); Crotty, supra, 49 N.J. Super. at 74 (stock room clerk murdered while on work break); and Buerkle, supra, 26 N.J. Super. at 407 (injury compensable when employee injured while carrying a booster battery owned by employer to start carpool vehicle after work). These cases do not, however, support petitioner's position. Although the employees' injuries or disabilities arose while they were away from their places of employment and not engaged in an activity benefiting their employers, their injuries or disabilities originated, at least in part, while they were on the job at their places of employment.
That is not the case here. Petitioner's post-traumatic stress syndrome originated not while she was at work, but while she was taking a day off. Nothing happened while she was working which led to her current condition. She was not working at the time Flight 93 crashed, nor at the time she heard the news of the crash. In fact, her reaction to the event occurred because she was not working, not because she was working. If we were to accept petitioner's argument, off-duty police officers, firefighters, and others whose jobs are inherently risky could seek compensation benefits when a fellow employee was injured or killed while taking that employee's place. No authority exists to support that position.
To put it more simply, when Flight 93 was attacked and crashed, causing petitioner's post-traumatic stress syndrome, she was not reasonably fulfilling the duties of her employment,"or doing something intimate thereto." See Crotty, supra, 49 N.J. Super. at 69. Therefore, her disability did not arise in the course of her employment.
We reverse the order of the workers' compensation judge that awarded petitioner medical and temporary total disability benefits for her post-traumatic stress syndrome, and vacate the award of counsel fees. We remand to the workers' compensation court to dismiss plaintiff's complaint.
Reversed and remanded.
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