A California water park employee was injured while using a water slide before clocking in and while the park was closed to the public. The injured employee first applied for workers’ compensation benefits and was turned down. Now an appeals court has ruled that the man was acting outside the scope of his employment and was entitled to bring legal action rather than being limited to workers’ compensation, according to Metropolitan News-Enterprise.
The employee, 23 years old at the time of the late May 1999 accident, was a “pool tech†at the Lake Dolores water park in Newberry Springs and normally worked from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. But on the day of the accident, there was a jet ski competition at the park, so he was assigned to leave at noon and return at 6 p.m. to clean up after the competition.