It is 6:40 in the morning in January. You pull into the lot behind the plant, step out of your car, and your feet go out from under you on a sheet of ice. You have not clocked in yet. You have not touched a machine. Is that a work injury? Under Illinois workers’ compensation law, the answer may well be yes, but it depends on details most people never think about: who owns the lot, whether your employer told you where to park, and what actually caused you to fall.
Commuting and parking lot injuries are among the most frequently disputed claims in Illinois, and insurance companies often deny them on the theory that you were “not at work yet.” Here is how the law actually treats them.
The General Rule: Ordinary Commuting Is Usually Not Covered
To be compensable under the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act, an injury must “arise out of” and occur “in the course of” your employment. Illinois courts have long held that the ordinary trip between your home and a fixed workplace is generally not part of your employment. This is often called the “coming and going rule.” If you are rear-ended on the expressway while driving your own car to the same job site you report to every day, that accident will usually not be covered by workers’ compensation, although you may have a separate personal injury claim against the other driver.
The Illinois Supreme Court reinforced this rule in Venture-Newberg-Perini, Stone & Webster v. Illinois Workers’ Compensation Comm’n, 2013 IL 115728. A pipefitter who took a temporary job about 200 miles from home was hurt riding from his lodging to the plant. The Court denied benefits because he chose the job and his lodging himself, the employer did not pay for his travel or control how he got there, and the trip was not driven by the demands of the job.
The rule has several well-recognized exceptions, however.
Parking Lot Injuries and the Extension of the Employer’s Premises
One of the most important exceptions involves parking lots. Since De Hoyos v. Industrial Comm’n, 26 Ill. 2d 110 (1962), Illinois has treated a parking area that the employer provides for its employees as part of the employer’s premises. Ownership is important but not required; courts also look at whether the employer controls the lot or requires employees to park there or use it as a route into work. Because employment includes a reasonable time to arrive and leave, walking from your car to the building before your shift in such a lot is generally in the course of your employment. That satisfies only half of the legal test, however.
The key question is whether the employer actually provided the parking. In Walker Brothers, Inc. v. Illinois Workers’ Compensation Comm’n, 2019 IL App (1st) 181519WC, a restaurant cook was hurt in a neighboring hardware store’s lot. Although he testified that management had posted a notice telling employees to park there, the evidence also showed that coworkers used street parking and other options. Because the employer did not own, maintain, or control that lot, did not require employees to park there, and the lot was not on a route the employer required employees to take, the Appellate Court found that the employer had not provided the lot and the injury was not compensable.
Compare that with Western Springs Police Department v. Illinois Workers’ Compensation Comm’n, 2023 IL App (1st) 211574WC. A crossing guard slipped on ice in a public commuter lot next to her post. Employee parking was available a short distance away, but the village had agreed not to ticket her for staying past the posted four-hour limit that applied to the general public. The Appellate Court held that by granting her that special parking privilege in a location the village controlled, the employer had effectively provided the space, and her fall occurred on the employer’s premises. The case turned on those specific facts; simply parking in a public lot near your job is usually not enough.
The difference between those two cases often comes down to facts that can be proven with the right evidence: a parking pass, an employee-only sign, a posted notice or supervisor instruction about where to park, a handbook rule, or a lease requiring the employer to designate employee spaces.
What Caused the Fall Still Matters
Showing that you were in an employer-provided lot is only the first step. You must also show that your injury arose out of your employment. That can be shown when the fall was caused by a hazardous condition of the employer-provided parking area or another risk connected with your job. A pothole, a broken or defective curb, uneven pavement, or ice and snow in an employer-provided lot may be that kind of hazard. If the cause was instead an ordinary everyday risk that the public faces generally, such as an ordinary curb or ordinary wet pavement, you will usually need to show that your job exposed you to that risk more than the general public.
Why a surface was slippery matters. In Dukich v. Illinois Workers’ Compensation Comm’n, 2017 IL App (2d) 160351WC, a school clerk slipped on an outdoor ramp that was simply wet from rain. The Appellate Court affirmed the denial of benefits because rainwater is a hazard everyone faces and there was no defect, no required path, and no work-related factor such as carrying work materials. Ordinary rain was not enough in Dukich, but ice, snow, a defect, an unusual accumulation of water, or a fall while carrying something for your job can lead to a different result.
Other Exceptions to the Coming and Going Rule
Beyond parking lots, Illinois courts recognize several other situations where travel to or from work is covered:
Traveling employees. If your job requires you to travel away from a fixed workplace, such as a service technician or home health aide moving between locations, injuries during reasonable and foreseeable travel conduct are often covered. Having a job that involves driving does not, by itself, make your ordinary commute to a regular reporting location compensable. Our earlier post explains the traveling employee doctrine in more detail.
Special errands. If your employer directs you to make a particular trip or perform a work task on the way to or from work, such as dropping off paperwork or picking up supplies, some or all of that trip may be part of your employment.
Employer-provided transportation or paid travel time. When the employer supplies the vehicle or transportation, or pays you specifically for your travel time, the commute may fall within the Act.
The sole or usual access route. If the only practical or usual way into your workplace exposes you to a special hazard, such as a defective walkway leading to the employee entrance, an injury there may be covered even if it is technically off the employer’s property. Simply being close to the workplace is not enough on its own.
Whether any exception applies depends on the facts, and a personal detour may take you outside the protection of the Act.
What to Do If You Were Hurt Coming to or Leaving Work
If you were injured in a parking lot or while traveling for work, report the injury to your employer as soon as possible. Under Section 6(c) of the Act, notice must be given as soon as practicable and no later than 45 days after the accident. Notice may be oral or written, but reporting right away in writing creates a clear record, and a failure to give any notice within 45 days can bar the claim. A claim must generally be filed with the Commission within three years of the accident, or within two years of the last payment of compensation, whichever is later. Photograph the condition that caused your fall before it is cleared or repaired. Write down who owns or maintains the lot, whether you were told where to park, and whether you had a parking permit. Keep any emails, texts, posted notices, or handbook rules about parking, photograph employee parking signs, and note the names of coworkers who can confirm where employees were expected to park.
When you see a doctor, describe exactly where and how the injury happened. Vague descriptions such as “I fell outside” can later be used to argue that your injury had nothing to do with work. If the insurance company denies your claim because you were “not on the clock,” that denial is not the final word. An arbitrator and the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission, subject to review by the courts, decide whether an injury is covered, not the insurance adjuster. Learn more about what counts as a work-related injury in Illinois.
If you were injured in a parking lot, on a walkway leading to your job, or while traveling for your employer, the attorneys at The Law Offices of Millon & Peskin, Ltd. can help you determine whether your injury is covered and fight for the benefits you are owed. We represent injured workers throughout the Chicagoland area, including DuPage, Cook, Will, Kane, and Lake counties. Learn more about how our workers’ compensation attorneys help injured workers, or call us today at 630-260-1130 for a free consultation.