Employer-Owned Parking Lot

• If an employee slips and falls while walking to work through the employer's parking lot, this is very likely to be covered by workers' compensation. Similarly, if the employer does not have a parking lot, but maintains some form of control -- such as leasing spaces for employees to use -- at another parking lot; or the employer requires employees to park in a nearby lot, then that too is likely to be covered.
  
  

Parking Lot Outside Employer Control

• If an employee parks in the parking lot of a store to do some shopping on her lunch break, this is unlikely to be covered by workers' compensation as it does not constitute a work-related duty, nor did the employer require the employee to park in that lot. However, if the employee is driving to deliver products to that store on behalf of the employer, this would likely be covered since the employee was required to navigate the lot to deliver the goods.
  
  

The Employee's Actions at the Time of the Accident

• In order to file workers' compensation, the employee's actions in the parking lot immediately prior to incurring the injury should have been reasonable in nature, and reasonably connected to the employee's work duties. If the employee engaged in horseplay -- such as chasing a co-worker around the lot -- or some other negligent action that the employer did not direct, he is less likely to have the claim upheld than if he was simply walking to collect a file of work documents from the trunk of his car.
  
  

The Time the Accident Occurred

• If the accident occurred before or after the employee's regular working hours but the employee was performing activities reasonably related to the course and scope of her duties, the employer is likely to be responsible for providing workers' compensation payments. For example, if the employee arrived an hour before the official start of her shift to get caught up on some work, she could likely claim for a slip and fall in the parking lot. On the other hand, an employee who parks in the company lot when attending a baseball game at the weekend is much less likely to have a valid claim -- unless the baseball game was a company-sponsored perk.