Sazima v. Shepherd Bar & Restaurant, 758 N.W.2d 270 (2008)
The Plaintiff was employed at the Defendant restaurant, which did not have an employee parking lot. The employer required its employees to park in public parking spaces near the restaurant; however, it requested the employees to avoid parking in the parking spaces located directly in front of the restaurant, said spaces being reserved for patrons.

The Plaintiff parked in a public parking space down the street from the restaurant, and as she was walking to work, slipped and fell on an icy public sidewalk; the claimant had not yet reached the premises of the employer at the time of the fall.

The Michigan Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the application for leave to appeal the June 17, 2008 order of the Court of Appeals, and in lieu of granting leave to appeal, simply reversed the decision of the WCAC. The Court found the Plaintiff was not in the course of her employment when she was injured, quoting from Simkins v. General Motors Corp (After Remand), 453 Mich. 703, 723 (1996), “[T]here is no recovery for an employee who is injured on a public street or any other property not owned, leased, or maintained by the employer while traveling to or from a non-employer parking lot because this injury is not in the course of employment.”

The Court went on to state that the Plaintiff’s activity did not confer a special benefit on her employer, nor did it subject her to excessive risks. She encountered the same risks as any other user or the street.