Did Harrah’s Have to Ante up Benefits to Dealer who Tripped Over Forklift?

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Employees injured on their way to work generally can’t obtain workers’ compensation benefits. But that's not always true. A case involving a Harrah’s dealer who fell over a forklift shows how important it is for an employer to keep things safe right around its building–especially near employee entrances.

The table games dealer in that case didn’t gamble on having a restroom emergency when she and her husband arrived at the building at 1:30 am one morning on Poydras Street not far from the French Quarter. Her husband dropped her at the front so she could get to the bathroom, but she hadn’t counted on a forklift being parked right near the entrance. She tripped and fell over the extended arm of the forklift, which had no barriers around it, and injured herself. 

Video surveillance as well as witnesses’ testimony established that most of Harrah's employees, arriving in the middle of the night in downtown New Orleans, took the same entrance.

The Office of Worker's Compensation awarded the claimant past and future medical benefits. Harrah’s appealed, arguing that the injury didn’t occur in the course of employment.

Generally, an employee's injuries sustained while traveling to or from a place of employment are not compensable. The threshold doctrine is one exception. Under that rule, an employee can recover if she shows that:

1. A distinctive travel risk exists for the employee in going to or coming from work; and
2. The risk exists immediately adjacent to her place of work.

Was the claimant in the course of employment when she was injured?

A. No. She was outside her place of employment when she fell.

B. Yes. The forklift was a special risk right near the entrance.

If you selected B, you agreed with the court in Ralser v. Harrah’s New Orleans, No. 2025-CA-0767 (La. Ct. App. 04/22/26), which found that the accident was compensable.

The threshold doctrine generally involves a special risk, attributable to the location of the work premises. The risk must be: 1) different from the risks to which the general traveling public is exposed; or 2) more aggravated in the area adjacent to the employer's premises than elsewhere.

Based on the video and testimony, the forklift was a distinctive travel risk. It was immediately adjacent to where employees entered the building and there were no barriers around it.

“[T]he video surveillance ... demonstrated that the majority of employees, arriving in the middle of the night in downtown New Orleans, took the exact [same] route,” the court said.

The forklift was a distinctive travel risk because employees were exposed to it to a greater extent than the general public, having to utilize the entrance to get to their job and when leaving work. 

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