Opinion ID: 1212939
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Extent to which horseplay has become a part of the employment.

Text: The evidence adduced at the hearing before the administrative law judge was conflicting on the frequency of rubber band fights, but clearly such fights had become a part of the employment, whether the fights occurred daily or two or three times a month. As Larson points out: The controlling issue is whether the custom had in fact become a part of the employment; the employer's knowledge of it can make it neither more nor less a part of the employment  at most it is evidence of incorporation of the practice into the employment. [20] (italics in original) We do not consider the fact that apparently no employee of Bergin had ever attempted before to flip a piece of wood with a rubber band as indicating that such a practice could not be considered a part of the employment. The elements of the practice, which must be conceded to have been part of the employment, were not significantly enlarged or so modified so as to no longer constitute a part of the employment.