No benefits for airport worker injured while walking through terminal
A Florida appellate court on Wednesday ruled that an airport worker was not entitled to benefits for an injury that happened while walking through the terminal to a shuttle bus stop.
Felix Aquino worked as a baggage handler for American Airlines. In March 2019, after clocking out at Miami International Airport, he injured his right calf muscle stepping off a curb while walking toward a parking-lot-shuttle bus stop, according to Aquino v. American Airlines, filed in the 1st District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee.
Mr. Aquino reported the accident at work the next day and visited an on-site clinic, which provided pain medication, crutches and a “cam boot,” with instructions to stay home and rest. He then underwent a magnetic resonance imaging scan and was referred to an orthopedist. The airline later denied a workers compensation claim.
A Judge of Compensation Claims found Mr. Aquino was not entitled to benefits for his injury pursuant to the “going or coming” rule in Florida workers comp law, thus barring the claim.
The appeals court acknowledged the “premises rule” as an exception to the coming and going rule. The premises rule states that an injury sustained by an employee with fixed hours and place of work who is hurt while going to or coming from the job is in the course of employment if the injury occurred on the employer’s premises.
The rule applies when the injury occurs in an area where the employer exercises actual dominion or control, the court said.
Mr. Aquino argued that the employee parking lot, where he was headed when injured, was part of his employer’s premises. The court found American exercised no actual dominion or control over the lot, noting that the injury occurred in a public area that served essentially as a public sidewalk, which wasn’t owned, leased or maintained by American.
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