Breedlove v. Stout

When an employee leaves his workplace in his own vehicle after his shift ends, but decides, without his *68employer’s knowledge or direction, to return to work to pick up a work-related manual he intends to study at home, he is not acting within the scope of employment while driving back to his workplace. His employer is therefore not vicariously liable for an accident he negligently causes en route.

FACTS

In late December 1995, after finishing his shift as a supervisor at Canfor U.S.A. Corporation’s lumber reprocessing mill, Donald Stout punched out, drove off the Canfor premises, and then…