## Facts

- Abraham Fisher worked for Tidewater Building Company at its plant near Gloucester City, New Jersey.
- Tidewater, by established practice, furnished free transportation for employees between the plant area and Camden, including an employer-operated shuttle train connected to a customary route used by employees for travel home.
- On September 10, 1918, after Fisher’s shift ended, he went to board the employer-provided shuttle train as part of the customary trip home.
- While attempting to board the shuttle train, Fisher was struck and killed by another train.
- The Workmen’s Compensation Bureau awarded death benefits to Fisher’s widow.
- On appeal, the Camden County Court of Common Pleas set aside the award as outside the course of employment.
- The New Jersey Supreme Court reviewed the widow’s appeal from that judgment.

## Issues

1. Whether an employee’s death, occurring after the work shift while boarding transportation furnished by the employer for the trip home, arose out of and in the course of employment under the New Jersey Workmen’s Compensation Act.

## Decision

- The New Jersey Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the Court of Common Pleas.
- The court reinstated the Workmen’s Compensation Bureau’s award of death benefits.
- The court held the death compensable because the employer’s furnishing of transportation made the trip, and its attendant risks, an incident of the employment.

## Legal Principles

- The general “going and coming” rule (excluding ordinary commuting injuries) does not bar compensation where the employer, by contract or established practice, furnishes transportation to or from work.
- When the employer supplies the transportation, injuries sustained while the employee is using that employer-provided conveyance (including boarding and related access) arise out of and in the course of employment.
- Employer-furnished transportation can extend the temporal and geographic scope of employment beyond the worksite to the employer-controlled or employer-provided route for ingress and egress.
- An injury “arises out of” employment when the employee’s exposure to the risk is causally tied to an employment condition, such as the employer’s selected method and facilities for employee transportation.

## Conclusion

Because Tidewater routinely provided transportation as an incident of employment and Fisher was killed while boarding that employer-furnished shuttle to go home, the death arose out of and in the course of employment, and the compensation award to the widow was properly reinstated.


Fisher v. Tidewater Bldg. Co., 96 N.J.L. 103, 114 A. 150 (N.J. Sup. Ct. 1921)