## Facts

- H.D. Foote Lumber Company employed Henry V. Leckie as a saw filer and scaler at its sawmill.
- On a Saturday afternoon before the mill closed for the weekend, Leckie and the mill manager were at the mill burning a pile of slab (scrap) wood.
- Leckie’s duties that afternoon included watching and tending the mill engines, which powered equipment used at the site, including a blower involved in the burning operation.
- A circular cut-off saw was located about 10 feet from the engines Leckie was monitoring.
- Leckie also had to remain available to scale any logs that might be brought to the mill during the afternoon.
- During a period when he had no active hands-on work other than monitoring the engines, Leckie picked up a short piece of scrap wood and began cutting it on the circular saw to take home for his own stove (firewood).
- Foote permitted employees to take scrap wood, and on-duty employees had been allowed to cut scrap wood into convenient lengths.
- While cutting the scrap wood, Leckie severely injured his left hand on the saw.
- Foote paid Leckie about 70 weeks of workers’ compensation benefits but refused to pay additional benefits.
- Leckie sued in Louisiana state court seeking additional compensation (an additional 330 weeks), claiming the accident arose out of and occurred in the course of employment.
- The trial court awarded compensation to Leckie, and Foote appealed to the Louisiana Court of Appeal, Second Circuit.

## Issues

1. Whether an injury sustained on the employer’s premises during working hours is compensable when, at the time of injury, the employee was using the employer’s saw to cut scrap wood for the employee’s personal stove use.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeal reversed the trial court’s judgment and dismissed Leckie’s claim for additional compensation.
- The court held the accident did not arise out of and in the course of Leckie’s employment because he was engaged in a personal task that did not serve the employer’s business.
- The court ruled that the employer’s practice of allowing employees to take and cut scrap wood was a permissive accommodation and did not convert the activity into an employment duty or a work-related risk.
- The court distinguished cases allowing compensation for brief acts tied to worker comfort and efficiency (such as obtaining a drink), finding Leckie’s activity was a separate personal undertaking.

## Legal Principles

- For workers’ compensation, an employee must show the injury both arose out of and occurred in the course of employment.
- Being on the employer’s premises and “on duty” does not automatically satisfy the statute if, at the time of injury, the employee has stepped aside from work to pursue an objective solely personal in nature.
- A meaningful personal deviation can break the connection between employment and injury for the duration of the deviation.
- Limited acts commonly treated as incidental to employment (personal-comfort activities) may remain within the course of employment, but a personal project unrelated to work does not.
- Employer permission or tolerance of a personal practice does not, by itself, make an injury during that practice compensable when the activity does not further the employer’s interests.

## Conclusion

The court denied additional workers’ compensation because Leckie was injured while cutting scrap wood for his own stove use, an activity undertaken for personal benefit rather than the employer’s business, and the employer’s permission to take and cut scrap wood did not make the accident arise out of and in the course of employment.


Leckie v. H.D. Foote Lumber Co., 40 So. 2d 249 (1948)