More than most athletic endeavors, golf is known for being a setting for the mixture of business and pleasure. Many business relationships have been formed or strengthened, and many deals have been closed, somewhere between the first tee and the eighteenth green. That aspect of the game played a part in a recent court decision in which an employee was held to be entitled to workers’ compensation benefits based on injuries he sustained while taking part in a golf tournament.
Kenneth worked as a shipping supervisor for a furniture manufacturer. A trucking company invited Kenneth and some other managers to play in its annual golf tournament, free of charge. Participation was voluntary, but you do not need to twist a golfer’s arm to get him to play golf on what otherwise would have been a regular workday. Unfortunately, the fun stopped abruptly for Kenneth when the golf cart in which he was riding struck a tree and he was injured.
When Kenneth tried to get workers’ compensation benefits, his employer challenged his claim. Its argument was that Kenneth was taking part in a voluntary recreational activity that made him ineligible for benefits. There is such an exclusion in the law, but it did not apply to bar Kenneth’s claim. The golf tournament was voluntary, but it was not “recreational,” in the sense of being unrelated to Kenneth’s employment. Under the “mutual benefit doctrine,” even an activity that is generally regarded as recreational will fall within the workers’ compensation laws if some advantage to the employer results from the employee’s conduct.
Kenneth’s participation in the golf tournament was at least equal parts business and pleasure. His employer benefited because Kenneth was able to meet with and establish better relationships with the trucking company representatives whom he had previously only talked with by telephone.