Crossing Guard who Tripped while Parking Sustained Work-related Injury

Western Springs, IL (WorkersCompensation.com) – In Illinois, the “parking lot exception” allows employees to collect worker’s compensation benefits even if the injury occurs while the employee is walking to work.

As one case shows, the issue may turn on whether the employer provided the parking space and how much control it exercises over the space. Western Springs Police Dep’t v. Illinois Workers Compensation Comm’n, No. 1-21-1574WC (Ill. App. Ct. 12/23/22).

Just before she was scheduled to start work, a crossing guard for the Village of Western Springs pulled her vehicle into a public parking space that was close to the corner where she performed her job. The department set aside other parking spaces solely for employees, but the public spaces were more convenient, the guard later said. 

As the guard stepped out of her vehicle, she slipped on ice, which was hidden by a thin layer of snow, lost her balance, fell, and fractured her wrist. 

The Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission awarded her benefits. But a state circuit court reversed the decision, finding that the guard’s injury did not arise out of and in the course of her employment. The guard appealed.

The appeals court explained that when an employee slips and falls while walking to work at a point off the employer's premises, the resulting injuries do not arise out of and in the course of her employment and are not compensable.

However, there are two exceptions:

1. The “parking lot exception”: Recovery has been permitted where the employee is injured in a parking lot provided by and under the control of the employer in circumstances where the employee's injury is caused by some hazardous condition in the parking lot. 
2. Special risk exception: Recovery has been permitted when the employee is injured at a place where she was required to be in the performance of her duties and the employee is exposed to a risk common to the general public to a greater degree than other persons.

Here, the parking lot exception applied, the court held. Key to its decision was evidence that the public parking spaces were in essence meant for the village’s employees. The court affirmed the commission’s view that the parking space where the guard fell was an employer-provided parking area because the village granted her and other employees special privileges there. 

The court pointed to the guard’s testimony that the village granted her and several other village employees the privilege of parking in the public parking spaces beyond the four-hour limit applicable to the general public. The guard further stated that she was required to give the village her license plate number so police officers would know that it was her car and not issue a citation.

In addition, the court noted, the village owned the parking spaces where the accident occurred and exercised control and dominion over the area. While the village apparently did not require employees to park there, it did implement different rules for them so they could park there longer.

“When, as in this case, an employee slips and falls on ice or snow in an employer provided parking area, the resulting injury arises out of and in in the course of her employment,” the court wrote.

As a result, the court held, the crossing guard’s fractured wrist was a compensable injury.

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