Even with the company cutbacks in travel expenses in today's poor economic times, employees still have to take some business trips. Whether it is a company CEO networking, a sales representative hoping to make a sale, or a business professional seeking innovative business techniques, employees leave the office and travel to meetings and conventions. This travel opens up the employee to many risk exposures, including personal injury, property loss, liability claims, and crime. Fortunately for the employee, there are insurance policies that, while not eliminating those risk exposures, can at least offer some protection against loss.

What If?

While attending a convention, an employee can be either the victim or the cause of a loss, occurrences that, in general, can be covered by various insurance policies. For example, let's say Joe — the employee, not the plumber — is attending a convention in California when an earthquake strikes. Joe is severely injured. If the employer has the proper workers' compensation coverage, then Joe's bodily injury expenses will be paid under the terms of the workers' compensation policy. But what happens if Joe is on the golf course or socializing with colleagues at a bar when he is injured? Will the workers' compensation policy apply then? Is Joe in the course of employment at the time of his injuries? Neither the workers' compensation policy nor state workers' compensation laws define the phrase "in the course of employment." Invariably, this task of deciding the question usually falls to the courts.