By: Justin D. Robertson
Coffee run to the breakroom (kitchen). Quick stretch between staff meetings (Zoom calls). A bathroom break following a long call. A short walk around the building (yard) to get some fresh air and get re-energized. In a traditional office setting, these “personal comfort” moments are generally considered incidental to employment and, in most jurisdictions, injuries during such moments are compensable. But it’s almost 2026, and what was once a benefit of certain jobs, is increasingly becoming the norm for many employees. Remote work has been around, but working from home is quickly become the norm. What happens when the “office” is a spare bedroom, home office or kitchen table?
The Personal Comfort Doctrine recognizes that employees inevitably engage in brief, necessary activities often of a personal nature – bathroom breaks, getting a drink or grabbing a snack – during their workday, that maintain their capacity to continue to work. If an injury occurs during such reasonable and momentary activities, the Industrial Commission and North Carolina Courts have deemed them as arising out of and in the course and scope of employment, provided there is no substantial personal deviation. What are some of the unique considerations that should addressed when assessing compensability of an injury in a work-from-home situation?
There are several considerations that should guide your analysis. Was the activity being done at the time of injury reasonably necessary to continue working that day (bathroom, water, snack break), or was it a personal errand (doing household chore, meal preparation for dinner, yardwork)? Did the incident giving rise to the injury happen during the defined work hours and within the defined workspace (or a direct path to/from it), or elsewhere within the home (i.e. they have a home office, but injury occurred in child’s bedroom)? Was it a quick departure from the normal work routine, or involve a substantial departure from the normal workday? Would the activity being done at the time of the incident giving rise to injury be something that would be foreseeable and tolerated as part of a productive workday? Did anything unique to the employee’s home cause or contribute to the incident giving rise to the injury (loose area rug, pet or child toy caused fall)? With these considerations, and undoubtedly others that could arise, what can be done to minimize exposure and risk?
Employees should be asked to designate their workspace and do so in such a manner that it can be documented by the Employer. This could be a written agreement, or a floor plan, or with photographs provided of their designated work area. The employer should have defined work hours, and as appropriate, specify when breaks may be taken throughout the day. The employer could ask that the employee provide periodic written certification that their designated work area has been made free and clear of any potential “household clutter” and offer or agree to subsidize home office equipment that is ergonomic. Employers would be smart to outline in writing the expectation that personal comfort breaks should follow the shortest route to/from the workstation and be only as long as needed to address the immediate need to continue working. In doing so, they could specifically prohibit the type of tasks (household chores, taking the dog for a walk as opposed to letting them outside, lifting heavy items, off premises errands, etc.) that would be considered outside of their job duties. Finally, employers should be clear in stating that work-from-home employees are expected to timely report all work-related injuries, with a written narrative of what/where/when/why/how it happened, to include photos of the area where the injury reportedly occurred and of any items/things involved in the incident giving rise to injury.
Work-from-home arrangements are most likely going to become a permanent fixture in the labor market. However, the work-from-home situation introduces uncontrolled premises, blurry boundaries (work vs personal activity), unique hazards (pets, children, household clutter, etc.), and usually no witnesses other than the injured employee. That makes it incumbent to those of us assessing compensability questions in such scenarios, to focus on the specific facts of each situation as well as the employer’s policies and stated expectations of it’s remote employees in making our determinations.
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