Kidwell

In this case we are asked to determine whether an employee’s injury, which occurred while she was practicing at home to pass one of the protocols in an annual physical fitness test given by her employer, is compensable under this state’s workers’ compensation laws. We conclude the employee’s subjective belief, that as a condition of her employment, she was requried to practice for the test, is objectively reasonable. Thus, we annul the decision of the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board (Board).

Facts and Procedural History

On March 28, 1993, petitioner employee Linda Burnett Kidwell (hereafter applicant), employed for over 10 years as a state traffic officer by respondent State of California, California Highway Patrol (CHP), suffered an ulnar collateral ligament rupture of her right thumb at home, off duty, while practicing the standing long jump, a required test protocol of the CHP’s annually administered, mandatory physical performance program (PPP) fitness test. As a result of said injury, applicant required surgery and used 58 hours of sick leave. She filed a claim for workers’ compensation benefits which was denied by the CHP on the grounds that applicant’s injury…