Worker’s Slip-and-Fall Injury in Parking Lot Was Compensable

After a worker left work, she slipped on ice and fell in the parking lot of the shopping centre where her employer was located. She filed a workers’ comp claim for her hip injury, which was denied. So she appealed. The Appeals Commission noted that the worker’s employer leased space in the centre and thus didn’t operate or control the parking lot. But the employer’s violence policy addressed how to park in the parking lot. And its employees were authorized under the lease to use the parking lot. So the Commission concluded that the parking lot was part of the centre’s common areas and therefore part of the employer’s premises. Thus, the worker’s injury suffered in that lot was covered by workers’ comp [AC0081-15-36 (Re), [2015] CanLII 46177 (AB WCAC), July 31, 2015].