Was Good Samaritan Band Leader Performing Job Duties on Way to Conference?

What Do You Think?

An employee must be performing employment services at the time of injury to have a compensable claim in Arkansas. Is an employee driving to a work conference performing such services? What if he leaves his car to help accident victims?

A tragic case involving a school band director who was killed on his way back from a regional band association meeting addresses the latter scenario. The director was required to attend the meeting, which benefited his students and the school district. He used his own truck, which he often used for his job, including for transporting band equipment. 

Returning from the conference, he saw a car accident on the interstate. He left his vehicle and went to the center median to help. Then there was another accident, which resulted in a tire hurtling toward the director. The tire struck him and killed him on the scene.

The director’s spouse filed for workers’ compensation benefits, which the workers’ compensation commission denied. It did so on the basis that the director was not performing employment services at the time of the injury.

Under Arkansas law, in order for an accidental injury to be compensable, it must arise out of and in the course of employment. Ark. Code Ann. § 11-9-102(4)(A)(i) (Supp. 2023). A compensable injury does not include an injury incurred at a time when employment services were not being performed. Ark. Code Ann. § 11-9-102(4)(B)(iii). 

The test for whether a worker was performing employment services is whether the injury occurred within the time and space boundaries of the employment when the employee was carrying out the employer's purpose or advancing the employer's interest, either directly or indirectly.

The director’s spouse challenged the commission’s decision in court.

Was band director performing employment services when he was killed?

A. Yes. He was required to attend the conference and doing so benefited his employer

B. No. Leaving his car on the interstate to help someone was not a job duty and did not benefit the school district.

If you selected B, you agreed with the court in Williams v. Malvern School District, No. CV-24-290 (Ark. Ct. App. 04/09/25).

The court explained that an employee is performing employment services when he or she is doing something that is generally required by his employer. 

The court acknowledged the spouse’s argument that the director’s attendance was required, that the travel played an important role in his job, and that he would not have been on that interstate that day but for his job requiring him to go to the conference.

The key inquiry, however, was whether the director was performing employment services when he was injured--that is, whether he was doing so when he went to the center median of the interstate to assist other motorists.

The court remarked that the director entered the median, placing himself at great risk, to help members of the general public, the court conceded. But his job didn’t place him at that risk.

“While [the director] was certainly performing a good deed at the time of his fatal injury, he was not performing any activity inherently necessary for the performance of his job, nor was he directly or indirectly advancing his employer's interest,” the court wrote.

It affirmed the commission’s decision denying the claim.

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