BARBARA BANK, Employee/Appellant,
v.
MINN. DEP’T. OF HUMAN SERV’S., and STATE OF MINN., Self-Insured Employer/Respondent,
and
FAIRVIEW HEALTH SERV’S., TWIN CITIES SPINE CTR., and HARTFORD LIFE, Intervenors.
No. WC19-6328
Minnesota Workers Compensation
Workers’ Compensation Court of Appeals
October 20, 2020
ARISING
OUT OF & IN THE COURSE OF – TRAVELING EMPLOYEE. The
compensation judge erred in applying the increased risk test
to deny the employee’s claim related to an injury she
suffered while protected by portal to portal coverage and
while engaged in a reasonable activity.
Mark
G. Olive, Marcia K. Miller, SiebenCarey, P.A., Minneapolis,
Minnesota, for the Appellant.
Luke
Seifert, State of Minnesota, Department of Administration,
Workers’ Compensation Program, St. Paul, Minnesota, for
the Respondent/Self-Insured Employer.
Determined by: David A. Stofferahn, Judge, Patricia J. Milun,
Chief Judge, Gary M. Hall, Judge, Deborah K. Sundquist,
Judge, Sean M. Quinn, Judge
Compensation Judge: Lisa B. Pearson
OPINION
DAVID
A. STOFFERAHN, Judge
The
employee appeals from the compensation judge’s
determination that the employee’s injury did not arise
out of her employment and from the denial of her claim for
benefits. We reverse.
BACKGROUND
The
employee, Dr. Barbara Bank, is a physician licensed to
practice medicine in the State of Minnesota. She graduated
from the University of Minnesota Medical School in 1974. She
then joined a clinic and practiced family medicine for many
years. In 2011, Dr. Bank was hired by the Minnesota
Department of Human Services (DHS), the self-insured
employer, to provide medical care for residents of the
Community Behavioral Health Hospital in Rochester. As a
condition of her employment, Dr. Bank was required to
complete 50 hours of continuing medical education each year.
She was also required to repeat certification for the
American Board of Physician Specialties. To meet this
certification requirement, Dr. Bank traveled to Nashville,
Tennessee, in June 2018 to attend a two-day seminar at the
Nashville Hilton, where she and her husband stayed.
Dr.
Bank attended the first day of the seminar. She testified she
was not experiencing dizziness, vertigo, or any other
physical problems. Dr. Bank regularly took medications to
treat for prediabetic and thyroid conditions. She experienced
no side effects from either medication.
The
following morning, on June 26, 2018, Dr. Bank ate breakfast
with her husband in their seventh-floor hotel room before
attending the second day of the seminar. She walked from her
room to the elevator bank, intending to take an elevator to
the main floor where the seminar would begin. Dr. Bank stood
with two other people while she waited for an elevator. Dr.
Bank testified that after an elevator door to her left
opened, she “pivoted to go to the entrance of the
elevator, and somehow my shoe caught on...
