California Self‑Insurance Plans (SIP) Exam 2026 - Free SIP Practice Questions and Study Guide

In California workers’ compensation, the going-and-coming rule says injuries to employees while commuting to or from work are generally not compensable. But there’s an important exception: when the injury happens on property that the employer provides for the employee’s use, such as a parking lot on the employer’s premises. That parking area is part of the workplace, and the employee is there in connection with the job. If the injury occurs there, it is considered to occur in the course of employment, making it compensable.

So the parking lot scenario is compensable because the injury arises on employer-provided premises that are part of the work environment, not a purely personal commute.