course of employment
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 288 U.S. 162 - Voehl v. Indemnity Ins Co of North America · 1933Most cited · 456 citing opinions
special errand exception
Service in extra hours or on special errands has an element of distinction which the employer may recognize by agreeing that such service shall commence when the employee leaves his home on the duty assigned to him and shall continue until his return. And agreement to that effect may be either express or be shown by the course of business. In such case the hazards of the journey may properly be regarded as hazards of the service, and hence within the purview of the Compensation Act.
How often courts cite the cases defining “course of employment”
Court decisions citing the 2 opinions that defined “course of employment” — 730 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining cases as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.
All 2 definitions, chronological · 1933–1959
Petitioner was acting 'in the course of his employment' at the time of the injury, for at that moment he was doing the work of his employer pursuant to his employer's orders. No more is required by the Jones Act. The 'course of employment' under the Act is the equivalent of the 'service of the ship' formula used in maintenance and cure cases.