Title: Berry v. SIAC

State: oregon

Issuer: Oregon Supreme Court

Document:

Affirmed June 17, 1964.
Harold W. Adams, Assistant Attorney General, Salem, argued the cause for appellant. With him on *40 the brief were Robert Y. Thornton, Attorney General and Ray H. Lafky, Assistant Attorney General, Salem.
James B. Minturn, Prineville, argued the cause for respondent. On the brief were James F. Bodie, Bodie & Minturn and Rodney R. Glantz, Prineville.
Before McALLISTER, Chief Justice, and ROSSMAN, PERRY, SLOAN, O'CONNELL, GOODWIN and DENECKE, Justices.
AFFIRMED.
SLOAN, J.
In this action the commission resists paying death benefits to the widow of a workman killed in the course of his employment. The case was submitted upon stipulated facts to the trial court. The court entered conclusions in favor of plaintiff. Defendant appeals.
The stipulated facts reveal that about a year prior to his death the deceased, Berry, had filed notice with the commission as an employer engaged in a hazardous occupation. Berry did function to a limited extent as an employer and made contributions accordingly. Berry also worked as an employee for other employers and contributions were made in his behalf as an employee.
In respect to Berry's employment at the time of his death, the stipulation recited:
ORS 656.124 provides:
The trial court reached these conclusions of law:
The commission argues that if we adopt the trial court's conclusions we will impair effective administration of this section of the act by the commission. Defendant's brief says that the legislative intent was to make the "* * * written notice to the commission [as] the primary operative factor in determining whether a person is in fact an employer, an independent contractor, or an employee." We cannot agree.
1. It appears that the legislative intent by the 1957 amendments to ORS 656.124 was to eliminate the problem of deciding the independent contractor versus employee status as in Butts v. State Ind. Acc. *43 Comm., 1951, 193 Or 417, 239 P2d 238. See Survey of Oregon Legislation Enacted in 1957, 37 Ore L Rev 67, 86. The facts in the Butts case appear to have been similar to those in the instant case. The Butts decision sustained a finding that the workman had been an independent contractor and that his widow could not receive benefits. We agree with the commentators in the cited Oregon Law Review that: "The principal effect of the [1957] amendment is to extend the benefits of the act to persons who have heretofore been regarded as independent contractors, as in the Butts case."
2. The primary test of the statute now is, as the trial court concluded, to first determine if the workman was laboring with or without the assistance of others. It is no longer necessary to decide the bothersome independent contractor versus employee question. If the contractor does not have assistants he is covered, unless the notice provided by ORS 656.124 (2) has been served on the commission. The notice is the secondary determination. If the workman does have assistants other portions of the statute, we are not now concerned with, would apply. In this instance the stipulated facts establish that "* * * Berry performed this work without the assistance of others." He was covered.
Affirmed.