Part V - Iowa Workers' Compensation - The Going and Coming Rule
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E. Extension Of Premises Exception.
If the site of the injury is closely related in time, location and employee usage, to the work premises; and, the employer has exercised control over the site of the injury, the extension of premises exception may apply. In Frost v. S.S. Kresge Co., 299 N.W.2d 646(Iowa 1980) Mrs. Frost was dropped off by her husband just outside the front entrance to work. She had arrived a few minutes before 8:00am to participate in an employee birthday party breakfast. The workday was to begin at 8:30am. She slipped on an accumulation of ice on the public sidewalk within twenty five feet of the regularly used entrance. The Court pointed out the many labels attached to these cases and stated: "Labels have been attached to these exceptions; application however is often difficult. In this case, for example, is an icy sidewalk a special hazard?" (Most "special hazard" cases, in contrast to the present one, involve substantial dangers such as the crossing of railroad tracks.) And is the "divided premises: exception inapplicable because Mrs. Frost crossed the sidewalk after leaving her husband's vehicle, as opposed to crossing it in route from an employer-operated parking lot? Or is twelve feet from Kresge's door, as opposed to twenty, as some of the evidence indicated, close enough to be considered part of the premises solely because of its proximity and, if so, where should the line be drawn?"
The Court in finding the injury compensable found "this fall was closely connected in time, location, and employee usage to the work premises itself to entitle Mrs. Frost to the protection of the workers' compensation statute." Id. at 649-650. The Court set out two important findings by the Commission. "We disagree with the legal conclusion of the industrial commissioner in this case because (1) the site of the injury was so closely related in time, location, and employee usage to the work premises to bring the claimant within the zone of protection of the workers' compensation law and (2) the employer had exercised such control over the abutting sidewalk to make it an extension of the business premises. " Id at 648. The employer had used the sidewalks in front of the store for sidewalk sales in the past. Ask yourself did the employer use the premises in the past for any purpose. To clean the store windows, to have a sidewalk sale or an employee barbecue? Who sweeps the sidewalks, clears the snow and ice, puts up and takes down seasonal decorations?
