Kristiansen v. Morgan

In Kristiansen v. Morgan, 153 N.J. 298, 316, 708 A.2d 1173 (1998) the petitioner was a bridge operator employed by the New Jersey Department of Transportation. He was assigned to the Victory Bridge which is owned and maintained by NJDOT. He, as did the other NJDOT employees assigned to the bridge, parked his car in a lot located under the bridge and owned by the Hess Oil Company. NJDOT had two other parking lots it owned but it allowed NJDOT employees to park in the Hess lot as well. The access/egress route to both the Hess and NJDOT lots from the work site was the same. Petitioner was injured while walking on this route to his car at the end of his work shift. The fact that petitioner had not parked in an NJDOT lot was not dispositive. The Court concluded State workers' compensation benefits applied because to gain access to his parking, petitioner had to traverse the route he was taking at the time of his injury which took him across State owned and maintained property. In this respect, the Court said "this case is no different than the case of an employee who punches out on the time clock at the front entrance and is injured while walking through the plant to reach his or her car parked in a rear parking lot." Id. at 317, 708 A.2d 1173. Because the injury occurred on State owned property, the Court saw the "question whether NJDOT controlled the Hess lot as simply a red herring." Ibid. However, it did consider the phrase in N.J.S.A. 34:15-36 "excluding areas not under the control of the employer." The Court observed that that phrase was added by the Legislature "because it intended to include areas controlled by the employer within the definition. That phrase was intended to make clear that the premises rule can entail more than the four walls of an office or plant. " Id. at 316, 708 A.2d 1173.