Opinion ID: 1418285
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: special mission exception

Text: (4) An injury suffered by an employee during his regular commute is compensable if he was also performing a special mission for his employer. (2 Hanna, supra, § 9.03[3][iv], pp. 9-41  9-43.) The employee's conduct is special if it is extraordinary in relation to routine duties, not outside the scope of employment. ( Schreifer v. Industrial Acc. Com. (1964) 61 Cal.2d 289, 295 [38 Cal. Rptr. 352, 391 P.2d 832].) The special mission rule is ordinarily held inapplicable when the only special component is the fact that the employee began work earlier or quit work later than usual. (1 Larson, supra, § 16.12, p. 4-98.) (2c) In the circumstances of this case, preparing coffee was, at most, part of the routine duties of the first arriving employee. Such preparation did not require a special trip to the office and was not exceptional in terms of the ordinary duties of the employees. So far as appears, the employer did not request or even expect that employees would arrive earlier than usual for the purpose of preparing coffee. The mere fact that the employee chose to go to work early  without request  for the purpose of preparing coffee does not turn the ordinary commute into a special mission warranting exception from the going and coming rule. The instant case is distinguishable from those where the employee goes to work early not for the purpose of performing routine duties, but for an extraordinary purpose at the special request of the employer. ( L.A. Jewish etc. Council v. Ind. Acc. Com. (1949) 94 Cal. App.2d 65, 68 [209 P.2d 991]; Fenton v. Industrial Acc. Com. (1941) 44 Cal. App.2d 379, 381 et seq. [112 P.2d 763].) Likewise distinguishable are cases where the employee is required to make an extra trip to work in addition to his ordinary commute. (E.g., State C.I. Fund v. Indus. Acc. Com. (1928) 89 Cal. App. 197, 199 et seq. [264 P. 514].) In such cases, the special purpose of the trip or the fact that it is in addition to the ordinary commute, provides the extraordinary circumstance warranting exception from the going and coming rule. In the instant case, the trip was an ordinary commute for the purpose of performing an ordinary chore, preparation of coffee. There is nothing in the employee's choice of arriving at work earlier than usual constituting an extraordinary circumstance warranting exception from the going and coming rule. The award is annulled.