Court Opinion

ID: 9774665
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 18:29:13.892011+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:32:12.973778
License: Public Domain

HILL, Justice,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent, because I would hold that McCoy was in the course and scope of her employment as a matter of law. The undisputed facts appear in the majority opinion. They establish that McCoy came in early to her place of employment to receive her pay so that she could deposit it in the bank and have use of the money over the weekend. Although McCoy was not required to collect her pay in that manner, approximately 95% of the workers on her shift also picked up their checks early for the same reason. McCoy was injured on the premises of her employer during the time she was there to receive her pay.
“As a general rule, a workman who has ceased his work for the day and is on his way to the office of his employer to obtain his pay, or after obtaining such pay is leaving the premises of his employer and is injured on the premises of his employer, will be held entitled to compensation.” Texas General Indemnity Company v. Luce, 491 S.W.2d 767, 768 (Tex.Civ.App.—Beaumont 1973, writ ref’d n.r.e.), quoting Royalty Indemnity Co. v. Madrigal, 14 S.W.2d 106, 108 (Tex.Civ.App.— Beaumont 1929, no writ).
I see no reason why the rule should be different for those who arrive early to pick up their checks. While it is unnecessary to determine whether McCoy would have been in the course and scope of her employment had she been injured while en route to or returning from the bank, I would hold that a worker who arrives early at his or her place of employment for the purpose of picking up his paycheck and who is injured *350on the employer’s premises is entitled to compensation.
T.E.I.A. relies on the case of INA of Texas v. Bryant, 686 S.W.2d 614 (Tex.1985) and Texas General Indemnity Company v. Luce, the case we have cited, as authority for its argument that McCoy was not in the course and scope of her employment because she was not required by her employer to come in early to pick up her pay. In INA of Texas v. Bryant, the Supreme Court of Texas held that when a terminated employee is required to return to his place of employment to receive a paycheck, and is injured while at that place of employment, the injury would have occurred in the course and scope of employment. INA of Texas v. Bryant, 686 S.W.2d at 615. In Texas General Indemnity Co. v. Luce, the Beaumont Court of Appeals held that a cafeteria employee who was on vacation and who had returned to the employer’s premises to pick up her paycheck, who was injured when she stepped behind the serving line to greet fellow employees, had not deviated from the course and scope of her employment by her act in greeting her fellow workers. Texas General Indemnity Co. v. Luce, 491 S.W.2d at 768. Although the court noted that she was required to pick up her check in person, there is no indication that that factor was determinative in the court’s decision. In this case McCoy had not been terminated, was not on vacation, but had simply come in to work early so she could pick up her paycheck, as was the custom at her place of employment. I would hold as a matter of law that while on the premises of her employer for that purpose she was in the course and scope of her employment. I would therefore sustain point of error number one and would reverse.