SAIF Corp. v. Tono
SAIF Corp. v. Tono
Opinion of the Court
The question in this case is whether ORS 656.039(5) limits the workers’ compensation coverage available to a home care worker funded by the state on behalf of the client to only those injuries suffered by the worker while performing state-funded activities — as distinguished from those activities not funded by the state — for the client. We conclude that it does not.
I. BACKGROUND
This case arises on SAIF Corporation’s (SAIF’s) petition for judicial review of an order of the Workers’ Compensation Board (board). The pertinent facts are not disputed.
One morning, after claimant had performed some services on the Task List, the client/employer requested that claimant take her out for breakfast because the client/ employer did not want to have breakfast at home. Claimant complied with the request and, while driving her client/ employer to get breakfast, was involved in a motor vehicle accident. Claimant sustained injuries requiring medical treatment.
Thereafter, claimant submitted a workers’ compensation claim to petitioner SAIF in connection with the injury. SAIF denied the claim on the ground that claimant’s injury “did not arise out of or occur within the course of [her] employment.” Claimant requested a hearing before an administrative law judge (ALJ), and, following the hearing, the ALJ upheld SAIF’s denial, also concluding that claimant’s injury “did not arise out of or in the course and scope of her employment.” The ALJ found that claimant had taken the client/employer out to breakfast at the client/employer’s direction but that that activity was not on claimant’s Task List. Based on those findings, the ALJ concluded that claimant’s injury did not occur in the scope of her employment because it did not occur during a Task List activity.
Claimant appealed the ALJ’s order to the board, and the board reversed the ALJ’s order and set aside SAIF’s denial of claimant’s claim. The board concluded that claimant’s injury arose out of, and occurred in the course of, claimant’s employment, based on the fact that the injury occurred during her employment hours, while she was performing a service for her employer, and at the direction of her employer, even though the injury occurred during an activity that was not included on the Task List. As a result,
II. STANDARD OF REVIEW
As explained further below, SAIF contends that the board misinterpreted the requirements of ORS 656.039(5) when it concluded that claimant was entitled to workers’ compensation coverage for an injury incurred in an employer-directed activity that was not funded by the state. We review the board’s order to determine whether it reflects an erroneous interpretation of ORS 656.039(5) and, if so, whether the correct interpretation of the statute requires the board to take a particular action. ORS 183.482(8)(a).
III. ANALYSIS
On review, SAIF does not contest that claimant was injured while performing a service directed by her employer or that, under ordinary circumstances, claimant’s injury would be deemed to have arisen out of, and occurred in the course of, claimant’s employment, in light of the fact that the employer directed that claimant conduct the activity in which she was injured. Instead, SAIF argues that, in concluding that claimant was entitled to workers’ compensation coverage for her injury, the board erroneously interpreted ORS 656.039(5).
We reject SAIF’s interpretation of ORS 656.039(5). The text and the context of that statute demonstrate that it does not impose the limitation on workers’ compensation coverage for home care workers that SAIF claims it does.
ORS 656.039(5) provides:
“(a) The Home Care Commission created by ORS 410.602 shall elect coverage on behalf of clients of the Department of Human Services or the Oregon Health Authority who employ home care workers to make home care workers subject workers if the home care worker is funded by the state on behalf of the client.
“(b) As used in this subsection, ‘home care worker’ has the meaning given that term in ORS 410.600.”
Nothing in the plain terms of that provision imposes any limitation on the scope of workers’ compensation coverage available to state-funded home care workers.
The context of ORS 656.039(5) also counters SAIF’s interpretation of it. As SAIF points out in its brief, other provisions of the Workers’ Compensation Law — specifically, ORS 656.031 (governing municipal volunteers),
In the light of that text and context,
Affirmed.
The parties do not challenge the board’s factual findings. We therefore take the facts from the board’s order, supplementing with consistent facts from the record as necessary. Meltebeke v. Bureau of Labor and Industries, 322 Or 132, 134, 903 P2d 351 (1995).
ORS 410.600(8) provides that a “Home care worker” is
“(a) A person:
“(A) Who is hired directly by an elderly person or a person with a physical disability or by a parent or guardian of an elderly person or a person with a physical disability;
“(B) Who receives moneys from the Department of Human Services for the purpose of providing care to the elderly person or the person with a physical disability;
“(C) Whose compensation is funded in whole or in part by the department, an area agency or other public agency; and
“(D) Who provides either hourly or live-in home care services; or
“(b) A personal support worker.”
SAIF also argues that administrative rules limit workers’ compensation coverage for home care workers to activities funded by the state. However, the administrative rules cited by SAIF — OAR 411-030-0050(3)(c) (Dec 14, 2012) and OAR 411-030-0040(3)(a) (Dec 14, 2012) — do not discuss the scope of workers’ compensation coverage available to home care workers and, thus, are not probative of whether workers’ compensation coverage for home care workers is restricted to state-funded activities. Moreover, a different administrative rule indicates that the Collective Bargaining Agreement between home care workers and the Home Care Commission may set forth the parameters for workers’ compensation for home care workers. See OAR 411-031-0040(12) (“Workers’ compensation and health insurance are available to eligible homecare workers as described in the Collective Bargaining Agreement.”); see also Or Const, Art XV, § ll(3)(f); ORS 410.612; ORS 410.614 (all providing for collective bargaining for home care workers).
We note that, in 2014, the legislature amended ORS 656.039 to make privately paid home care workers, as well as state-funded home care workers, eligible for workers’ compensation coverage upon election by the Home Care Commission. Or Laws 2014, ch 116, § 12. As amended, that statute provides, in pertinent part, that “[t]he Home Care Commission created by ORS 410.602 shall elect coverage on behalf of persons who employ home care workers to make home care workers subject workers.” ORS 656.039(5)(a). The amendments took effect on April 1, 2014, and become operative on July 1, 2015, but do not bear on our analysis.
ORS 656.031(4) provides, in pertinent part, that municipal volunteers are entitled to workers’ compensation benefits
“if injured as provided in ORS 656.202 while performing any duties arising out of and in the course of their employment as volunteer personnel, if the duties being performed are among those:
(a) Described on the application of the county, city or municipality; and
(b) Required of similar full-time paid employees.”
(Emphases added.)
ORS 656.033(4) provides, in pertinent part, that work experience trainees are entitled to workers’ compensation benefits
“if injured as provided in ORS 656.156 and 656.202 while performing any duties arising out of and in the course of their participation in the work experience program or school directed professional'education project, provided the duties being performed are among those:
(a) Described on the application of the school district; and
(b) Required of similar full-time paid employees.”
(Emphases added.)
ORS 656.041(4) provides, in pertinent part, that certain city and county inmate workers are entitled to workers’ compensation benefits “if injured as provided in ORS 656.202 while performing any duties arising out of and in the course of their participation in the authorized employment, provided the duties being performed are among those described on the application of the city or county” (Emphasis added.)
We have reviewed the legislative history of ORS 656.039(5), but did not find it probative of the question in this case.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.