Exercise Can Be Rewarding.

An off-duty correctional officer was injured while doing jumping jacks exercise at home, and filed a worker’s compensation claim. Labor Code section 3600(a)(9), forecloses work comp coverage for an injury that arises out of “voluntary participation in any off-duty recreational, social, or athletic activity not constituting part of the employee’s work-related duties, except where these activities are a reasonable expectancy of, or are expressly or impliedly required by, the employment.” He lost in the worker’s compensation arena, but not in the Court of Appeal, which annulled the work comp decision, stating: “We conclude that a county jail correctional sergeant’s off-duty injury, sustained when he was performing jumping jacks at home as part of his regular warm-up exercise regimen, arose in the course of his employment under section 3600(a)(9)’s exception for coverage, where a departmental order required correctional officers to “maintain themselves in good physical condition so that they can handle the strenuous physical contacts often required of a law enforcement officer,” and where the Butte County Sheriff’s Department (the Department) required its correctional officers to undergo periodic training exercises, many of which involved physical activity.” (Daniel Young v. Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board and County of Butte (Cal. App. Third Dist.; June 25, 2014) 227 Cal.App.4th 472, [173 Cal.Rptr.3d 643].)