Printing - FECA-PT2 - National Association of Letter Carriers

(3) Workers having a fixed place of employment who are sent on errands or special
missions by the employer; and
(4) Workers who perform services at home for their employer.
b. In these cases, the CE must determine whether at the time of the injury the employee:
(1) Was performing assigned duties,
(2) Was engaged in an activity which was a reasonable incident of the assignment, or
(3) Had deviated from the assignment and was engaged in a personal activity which was
not related to the work. The general principles for deciding these cases differ because the
protection of the premises rule does not exist for off-premises injuries. Furthermore, there
is a difference in the application of these principles among the several kinds of off-premises
injuries.
c. Workers Such as Messengers, Letter Carriers, and Chauffeurs.
(1) By the nature of their work, employees in this category are on the premises of the
employer for only part of each working day and it follows that many of their injuries are
sustained away from the industrial premises. Of course, claims for these employees when
injured on the premises will be examined and adjudicated in accordance with the principles
for all on-premises injuries. The off-premises injuries will require somewhat different
consideration.
(2) For the off-premises injuries of these employees, it is neither necessary nor
practicable to develop the evidence in all cases as fully as is required for the injuries
sustained by other kinds of off-premises workers. No additional evidence is needed if the
CE can reasonably conclude from the evidence on the notice of injury combined with other
material in the file that the employee was performing assigned duties when the injury
occurred.
(3) If it appears questionable that the employee was in the course of employment when
injured, the official superior should be asked to submit:
(a) A statement with full explanation showing specifically whether the employee
was in the performance of duty when the injury occurred, and whether at the time of
injury the employee had deviated from the proper route for personal reasons; and
(b) A diagram showing the location of the accident in relation to the route of
travel the employee was to follow to perform the assigned duty.
(4) In most cases, the evidence should be sufficient to adjudicate the claim. If not,
supplemental statements should be obtained from the official superior, co-workers, or other
possible witnesses, and in disability cases, from the injured employee.
FECA-PT2 Printed: 06/08/2010 172