Legal Definitions - commercial-traveler rule

The commercial-traveler rule is a principle in workers' compensation that states that an accident will be considered to have occurred during the course of employment if it was caused by an employee whose job requires travel and the employee was not on a personal errand.

For example, if a salesperson is driving to a client meeting and gets into a car accident, the commercial-traveler rule would apply and the accident would be considered work-related. However, if the salesperson was driving to the grocery store during their lunch break and got into an accident, the commercial-traveler rule would not apply because they were on a personal errand.

The commercial-traveler rule is an exception to the going-and-coming rule, which states that accidents that occur during an employee's commute to and from work are generally not covered by workers' compensation.