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Generally, if an employee is required to travel as a part of his employment, he is covered by workers' compensation for the duration of the trip. There is a distinct exception to this rule when the employee markedly departs from the business trip to attend to a personal matter. In those jurisdictions following the majority rule for compensability above, an employee will usually be covered for an injury resulting from, for example, sleeping in a hotel or eating in a restaurant.
When an employee undertakes an activity that is outside his regular or established duties, the question arises whether an injury resulting from such activity was incurred during the course of his employment. Though compensation is not altogether likely when the act benefits the employee, there are instances where it is possible for an employee to recover workers' compensation benefits. With respect to self-improvement activities, courts have allowed compensation where the employee was injured while attempting to register for a vocational class. The decision hinged on the fact that the vocational education was called for in the contract for hire. Additionally, an employee required by his union to take educational courses, which were paid for by the employer, was allowed compensation.
Generally, all states provide a measure of rehabilitation for an injured worker though the expansiveness of such provision can vary greatly among them. Although rehabilitation is generally covered, the system for providing the injured worker with such services has been hampered by a lack of rehabilitative sources such as clinics and appropriate numbers of personnel to provide the necessary care.
The Federal Employers' Liability Act (FELA) is not a workers' compensation statute. Rather, it is an alternative avenue by which railroad workers who are injured on the job may be compensated. The FELA allows an injured railroad worker to pursue a negligence action against his employer for lost wages, medical costs, pain and suffering, and permanent and partial disability. Should the injury result in the railroad worker's death, the FELA also authorizes an action by the worker's surviving dependents. The damages recoverable by a dependent include those for pain and suffering, funeral expenses, and that part of the worker's earnings that were actually used to support the dependent. Notably, though, the employee's contributory negligence will diminish any recovery.
In some instances, an injured employee will return to his former position and resume making the same earnings as before the injury. When such an individual has received a workers' compensation benefit, the question arises whether the employer is entitled to a credit on the amount of benefits that were paid to the employee. If the employer paid the employee's wages, intending such wages to take the place of any benefit compensation, then the employer would be entitled to a credit. However, there is rarely direct evidence of the employer's intention in this regard.
