May 02, 2025 | JacobiJournal.com Court Rejects Carpool Exception: In a recent appellate decision, a California court ruled that the “going-and-coming rule” still applies when an employee carpools to work in a privately arranged ride with a colleague—even when that colleague receives a nominal travel stipend from the employer.
Background: The Going-and-Coming Rule
Under California workers’ compensation and liability law, the going-and-coming rule generally exempts employers from liability for employee injuries or torts that occur during the employee’s commute to and from work. Exceptions to this rule do exist, particularly when the commute is within the scope of employment or when the employer benefits from the transportation.
Case Details
The case involved an employee who was injured in a car accident while carpooling with a co-worker. The co-worker had coordinated the carpool arrangement informally and received a modest stipend from the employer intended to encourage carpooling and reduce parking congestion.
However, the court found that the stipend did not transform the co-worker into an agent of the employer, nor did it constitute sufficient employer control to make the carpool trip fall under the course of employment.
Court’s Reasoning
Court Rejects Carpool Exception, The panel emphasized that the employer neither mandated the carpool nor exercised control over the transportation. Therefore, the injury sustained during the commute remained outside the scope of employment. The court declined to extend liability under the exception to the going-and-coming rule, noting that doing so would significantly blur the boundary between personal and work-related travel.
This decision reaffirms longstanding precedent that voluntary carpools typically do not qualify for exceptions to the going-and-coming rule—even when small employer incentives are involved.
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