## Facts

- Donna Turpin worked as a hospice nurse for Wythe County Community Hospital.
- Turpin was on call on weekends and could be contacted to respond to patient needs.
- Because she often drove to patients’ homes, including on mountainous roads, she kept nursing supplies in her car.
- While Turpin was on call, the hospital contacted her using a pager that was somewhat unreliable.
- The hospital also sometimes contacted Turpin on her personal cell phone.
- Turpin did not regularly carry her personal cell phone unless she was on call.
- Turpin instructed family and friends not to call her cell phone while she was on call so the line would be available for work contact.
- When contacted while driving, Turpin would pull over as soon as she safely could to respond.
- On November 7, 2009, Turpin attended a mandatory in-service at the hospice office while she was on call.
- After the in-service, Turpin drove home on a mountainous road.
- During that drive, Turpin noticed her cell phone light up and believed she was likely receiving a call from the hospital.
- Turpin took her eyes off the road briefly to see whether the hospital was calling.
- Turpin’s vehicle slid on gravel, she lost control, and she crashed into a bank.
- It was later determined the hospital was not calling at the time of the accident.
- Turpin filed a claim for workers’ compensation benefits.
- A deputy commissioner awarded benefits, and the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Commission affirmed.
- The employer appealed to the Court of Appeals of Virginia.

## Issues

1. Whether Turpin’s injuries from the automobile accident “arose out of” her employment under Virginia workers’ compensation law when the accident was triggered by her brief glance at a cell phone call she reasonably believed was work-related while she was on call.
2. Whether the Commission’s finding of the required causal connection between Turpin’s employment conditions and the accident was supported by credible evidence, even though the employer was not actually calling at that moment.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeals of Virginia affirmed the Commission’s award of benefits.
- The court held that, on these facts, the Commission could properly find that Turpin’s injuries arose out of her employment.
- The court treated the Commission’s factual findings and reasonable inferences as binding on appeal because they were supported by credible evidence.

## Legal Principles

- An injury “arises out of” employment when there is a causal connection between the injury and the conditions under which the employee is required to work.
- Virginia applies an “actual risk” test: compensability requires that the employment expose the worker to a risk connected to the work, not merely a hazard to which the general public is equally exposed.
- A risk may be work-related when the employee’s on-call duties and employer communication practices create an expectation of immediate availability and responsiveness.
- The causal analysis may account for an employee’s reasonable belief that she is responding to a work call while on call, even if the call turns out not to be from the employer.
- On appellate review, the Commission’s findings of fact, including causation findings, are conclusive if supported by credible evidence.

## Conclusion

The court affirmed the award because credible evidence supported the Commission’s conclusion that Turpin’s on-call status, the employer’s practice of contacting her by pager and sometimes by cell phone, and her resulting work-driven response to a phone that lit up while she was driving supplied the causal link required to treat the crash as arising out of her employment.


Wythe County Community Hospital v. Turpin, 2011 Va. App. LEXIS 299 (2011)