Activities ministering to personal comfort including restroom breaks, obtaining water, brief rest, and eating on premises remain within the course of employment. The activity must be reasonably incidental to work.
Substantial deviations fall outside the doctrine.
Alternative Names:
Personal Comfort Rule|Comfort Doctrine
Why it Matters?
The doctrine forecloses the argument that an employee was not working at the moment of injury, which is why break-time injuries on premises are generally compensable. The defense operates instead through deviation analysis, establishing that the activity was not reasonably incidental to employment. Off-premises lunch breaks fall outside coverage in most states, which is a meaningful boundary.
Frequently Confused with
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
Are break-time injuries compensable?
Where is the boundary?
