Colo. sports editor hurt at football game (updated: how you can help page 4)

Re: Colo. sports editor badly hurt at football game

I am for worker's rights 99 percent of the time, but he was not working. There is time when you are on the road that it is considered your time.

He was in his off duty time. Unless his name is Draper, he cannot drink while he works, and the drinking would have established that he was off duty.

Now should he have said he was interviewing a player walking up the steps? Yes. wink wink

 

Re: Colo. sports editor badly hurt at football game

Would he have fallen down the hotel steps if he didn't have to travel to help cover the Super Bowl?

No...

If you're on the road for work, you're working. Does that mean you get paid 24 hours a day? Of course not. But the paper pays all of your expenses for 24 hours a day when you're on the road. The paper paid for the drinks that got this guy drunk.

He did nothing illegal. He did nothing wrong. He accompanied his boss and several co-workers to a work dinner where he did nothing that 21 other people didn't do. He happened to be the unlucky one who fell down and broke his wrist.

 

Re: Colo. sports editor badly hurt at football game

I'm gonna guess the paper in question now has a very clear policy on drinking in this sort of situation. And if it doesn't, then it deserves to be hit by another such claim again.

 

Re: Colo. sports editor badly hurt at football game

I see where you are coming from.

I just do not think it reaches that far. Heck, he could have said that he thought he saw John Elway and he wanted a final quote and that is why he fell.

 

Re: Colo. sports editor badly hurt at football game

Just because you didn't do anything wrong doesn't make someone else liable.

 

Re: Colo. sports editor badly hurt at football game

Why do you hate America, Ace?

 

Re: Colo. sports editor badly hurt at football game

If it all were Cleveland, it would all be good.

 

Re: Colo. sports editor badly hurt at football game

He fell in front of everyone as we were getting back to the hotel. Most of us saw it happen. He wasn't horsing around, he just slipped and fell hard. He was a big guy too, that didn't help matters.

The guy didn't miss a single day of work until he had to have surgery to correct it.

 

Re: Colo. sports editor badly hurt at football game

At D-1 college games I've covered on the sidelines, I found boosters to be a big problem. They would just stand there where photographers would need to be, so a group of photogs would have to be clumped together, squatting. Both because of the squatting and the boosters standing right there, it takes away your chances to escape if you need to get out of the way. Whether you're just taking notes, taking photos or both, if you're on the sidelines you need to have an escape route. And like others have said, safety is more important than getting "THE" photo. It may be tempting to stay in place and get shots of that WR/RB/QB zipping down the sidelines, but you have to know where the defenders are.
As far as being close to the field, I know at least Oregon and Iowa have lines you have to stand behind while on the sidelines. Not a bad rule, especially if everyone follows it.

 

Re: Colo. sports editor badly hurt at football game

I dunno, man.

If I get piss ass drunk while covering something away from home and break my wrist, I don't think I'm going to blame my employer.

 

Re: Colo. sports editor badly hurt at football game

Drinking to the point of intoxication is doing something wrong. Sorry. I hate to be the party pooper here but he could have accomplished any "work" obligations at this dinner without getting shitfaced.

The company got boned in this example and here's my reasoning. Let's say that instead of falling down stairs, he threw up all over his shirt and had to get it dry cleaned. Would that be a work expense? I don't think so.

When you're on the road, you're working when you're working. And that means you're working when you're being paid to work, being paid to perform your job. Unless this guy's job description was "Dude that gets wicked drunk and falls down the stairs to others' amusement", then this guy wasn't working at the time of the accident.

I'm glad he won though. Given the amount of times employees are screwed over in these examples, it's nice to see one go the other way.

 

Re: Colo. sports editor badly hurt at football game

What if you're on salary and thus considered on the clock 24/7?