A teacher serving as the faculty sponsor for the high school Beta Club was injured while chaperoning the students at a club convention. Her injury was work-related and she was entitled to workers compensation benefits the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled recently in Clark County Board of Education v Audeen Jacobs, No 2008-SC-000222-WC (February 19, 2009).
Kentucky law requires that an injury covered by workers compensation arise out of and in the course of the injured workers's employment. Under Kentucky law "an injury occurs in the course of an employment if it takes place during the employment, at a place where the employee may reasonably be, and while the employee is working or otherwise serving the employer's interests." Here, because the school board encouraged the teacher to sponsor the Beta Club and viewed the activity "as advancing its mission to educate students," the Court ruled that her injury was within the scope of the teacher's employment.
Robert L. Abell
