The Commonwealth Court has upheld a workers' compensation judge's ruling that a flight attendant who slipped and fell while aboard an airport shuttle bus was injured during the course of her duties.

A three-judge panel consisting of Judges P. Kevin Brobson, Michael H. Wojcik, and J. Wesley Oler Jr. rejected US Airways' argument that because the airline did not own the shuttle bus and flight attendant Betty Bockelman was injured outside of her shift hours, she wasn't in the scope of her employment at the time.

According to Brobson's opinion, Bockelman drove to the Philadelphia International Airport every day for work and parked in the employee lot. She would then board a shuttle bus to the terminal and take one at the end of the day to return to the parking lot.

On Jan. 23, 2015, she slipped in a puddle of water in the bus and fell while trying to put her luggage on an overhead rack. She crushed her left foot. She filed a workers' compensation claim and the judge ruled in her favor, holding that the injury occurred on the employer's premises, Bockelman's presence on the shuttle bus was required by the nature of her employment, and her injury was caused by the condition of the premises.

US Airways argued that it did not own the parking lot or the bus, so the injury did not occur on its premises. It also contested that Bockelman was required to use the bus, claiming US Airways never ordered employees to use any specific mode of transportation to get to work.

However, Brobson said that US Airways knew employees relied on the buses to get to work from the parking lot.

“As part of doing business with the airport, employer understood that the airport would transport employer's employees who drove to work. Thus, employer also understood that, in order to arrive at their work area to start their shift, employees who drive to work invariably board the shuttle bus after their commute to the airport,” Brobson said.

“Similarly,” he continued, “employer also understood that, in order to leave their work area at the end of their shift, employees who drive to work invariably board the shuttle bus to return to their vehicle. Accordingly, the shuttle bus is such an integral part of employer's business as to be part of the premises, in addition to being a customary means of ingress and egress, and the [workers' compensation judge] correctly concluded as such.”

Kimberly A. Zabroski of Littler Mendelson in Pittsburgh represents US Airways and said the airline does not allow comment.

Alfred J. Carlson III of Martin Law in Philadelphia represents Bockelman. “It's a great decision, it not only affects individuals working for US Airways and American Airlines, but anyone working at the Philly airport,“ Carlson said, including vendors, maintenance and other personnel. “It also affects workers in Pennsylvania who have a similar situation with an employee lot and are taken by a shuttle to their specific place of employment.”