An employee is entitled to workers’ compensation benefits when he or she suffers an injury “arising out of and in the course of employment.” Thus, the machinist would be entitled to benefits if he was still on the clock and required to be on the employer’s premises during his lunch break.

Whether or nor an employee’s injury will be covered by workers’ compensation turns on the very unique facts that arise in each individual workplace injury scenario. The following factors come into play:

• Was the injury caused by an increased risk from the job that is greater than the risk held by the general public?
• Would the injury not have occurred but for the fact that work obligations placed the employee in a position where he was injured?
• Could the injury be characterized as purely personal, unconnected in ay way to the employment? Did the injury occur at the workplace, even if the circumstances were purely personal?
• If the injury results from a dispute in the workplace, was the dispute over a private and personal matter? Whether an injury is covered may depend on whether workers were fighting about an overtime shift, or over an insult hurled at a bar over the weekend.
• If your employee is assaulted at work by a member or the general public, was the danger greater due to the nature or setting of the work (security guards, police officers, convenience store clerks, and bartenders)?

Source: CCH KnowledgePoint HR How-to: Workplace Safety