A transit authority manager was working a split-shift and was injured during her unpaid break, and the District of Columbia Court of Appeals determined that her injuries were compensable because they arose out of her employment.

Lemakia Gaines was working a swing shift for the transit authority and planned to eat in the employee-only auxiliary room after her first shift. This room was accessible with a master key issued to station managers and employees. She took the escalator to the street to get a soda and fell on her way back down the escalator to the break room. She was diagnosed with contusions, abrasions and sprains. She was in uniform and on her two-hour unpaid break between her two scheduled shifts.

She was initially granted benefits by the administrative law judge, but a review board reversed the decision because the injury occurred on a lengthy break.

Her employer said that she was on an unpaid break and was free to come and go if she wanted, so her injuries did not arise from her employment. The court said that compensation could be denied if an employee was at work unreasonably early or stayed unreasonably late, but in the case where someone was working two shifts it was reasonable for them to remain at the workplace at the time of their injury. It was not “thoroughly disconnected” from the workplace, and it would not have occurred if her job had not required her to go to the station to work that shift. The court said her injuries were clearly compensable.

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