An Administrator's Guide to California Private School Law

Chapter 8 – Leaves And Absences

psychiatric symptoms. The employee was subsequently terminated and claimed that his psychiatric problems were a result of the investigation. The court held that the employee’s intentional and criminal misconduct constituted a material deviation, and hence took his conduct outside the course and scope of employment. 1425  A police officer was investigated for allegedly making death threats to his wife. His claim for occupational stress was denied even though it arose directly from the department’s investigation of his misconduct, because the threats to his wife were clearly outside the course and scope of his employment. 1426  An employee was injured in an automobile accident which resulted when he was attempting to elude a traffic officer while speeding during a trip for his employer. The court found the injury compensable and drew a distinction between deviating from the duties of his position, and performing those duties (i.e., the work related trip) in an unauthorized manner. 1427

Ordinarily, in order to rely on this defense, a school may be required to actually carry out discipline against the employee. If discipline is not carried out, the defense of material deviation may not be available. 1428 C. O THER S PECIAL C IRCUMSTANCES O F I NJURY 1. I NTOXICATION An injury is not compensable if it is caused by the intoxication of the injured employee. The key question is one of causation. It is not enough to show that the employee was intoxicated at the time of injury. It must be shown that the injury would not have occurred except for the intoxication. Another problem arises in proving intoxication. The school must prove that the employee was drinking, that he was legally intoxicated, and that the intoxication caused the injury. 1429 2. S ELF -I NFLICTED I NJURY Injuries which are “intentionally self-inflicted” are not compensable. 1430 In order to be non- compensable, there must be evidence of a deliberate intent on the part of the worker to cause injury to himself, and not merely a failure to realize the probable consequences of the action. In one case, a police officer was held to have sustained a compensable injury when he struck a wall with his fist upon learning that the District Attorney had declined to prosecute a prisoner he had apprehended. 3. S UICIDE Suicides have traditionally posed problems because they may be viewed as the result of a willful act on the part of the employee, which severs the causal connection between the job related injury and the employee’s death. The Labor Code states that no benefits shall be payable if an

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