aol?N I.. nILI. 

AmrnN. TlmLAFl 78711 

.AT¶-ommlBI 0 -AX. 

April 26, 1973 

Mr. Jerry W. Belcher 

Aesistant Executive Director 

Industrial Accident Board 

State Finance Building 

Austin, Texas 78711 

Dear Mr. Belcher: 

Opinion No. H- 33 

Re: Whether students 

participating in the 

Federal College Work 

Study Program at a 

privately-owned college 

are employees under the 

Workmen’s Compensation 

Act. 

You have aeked our opinion ae to whether or not studenta it privatelyowned Jarvie Chriotian College of Hawkins, Texas, who participate in 

the Federal College Work Study Program ire to be considered employees 

of the college under ‘the Texas Workmen’s Compenbation Acf’ao as to’ 

be entitled to its benefits. You state that the Feder,al program (42 U. S. C. 

Section 2751, et.seq. ) pro&ides funds to then private college to be user% 

in hiring needy students to do part-time work for’ the college. The 

student is charged for his tuition, books dtid other expenses &t the’ beginning 

t of the semester and. every four or five weeks , wages which he has ‘earned 

under the program are ciodited against thdbe cl&gee. ” 

As you des~cribe the program. about 88’per cent of the 450 students 

engaged in the program atJarvir work all classroom assistants, lab ’ 

and library assistants, student personnel rrsistantr, clerical work, 

artr and crafts assistants and other’technician type jobs. About “’ 20 

per cent work in building maintenance type jobe. The rate of’piy is determined by the student’6 economic need. Notie can work more.‘than 15 hours 

a week and the average rate of pay is approximately $2.00 per ho&. 

: 

In June of 1972, thie office issued its opinion M-1142 answering * 

a similar question with reference to students enrolled in’Texaa colleges 

and universities. That opinion cited the fact that state colleges. and > 

universities are not subject to the general principles of the Workmen’s 

Compensation Act (Art. 8306, et seq., Vernon’s Texas Civil 

p. 137 
. - 

Mr. Jerry W. Belcher, page 2 (H-33) 

Statutes) but are governed, if at all, by specific statutes such as Articles 8309b, 8309d and 8309f, V. T. C. S. These statutes generally designate the specific poaitions at the various institutions which are covered. 

In Opinion M-1142 it was stated that the manner of remuneration, 

that is whether by a credit to his accounts or by the direct receipt of 

money, was immaterial. Citing American Fire & Casualty Co v. Baker, 

431 S. W. 2d 956 (Tex. Civ. App., 1961 err. ref., n. r. e)., it was likewiee 

stated that the fact that the funds used in large part to offset the cost 

of the program were .received from the Federal government would have 

no bearing on the determination of coverage. 

Section 2 of Article 8306, V. T. C. S., provides that the Workmen’s 

Compensation Law shall not apply to actions for injuries sustained by 

domestic servants, farm laborers, ranch laborers, or employees of 

a firm having less than three employees; nor shall it apply to the employees of any firm operating a steam, electric, street or interurban 

railway as a common carrier. 

Who are employees is determined by Article 8309, Section I, 

V. T. C. S., which defines “employee” to include every pereon in the 

service of another under any contract of hire, expressed or implied, 

oral or written. With the abolition of the doctrine of charitable immunity by the Supreme Court in Howle v. Camp Amon Carter, 470 S. W. 2d 

629 (Tex. 1971), no reason exists why employees of a privately-owned 

charitable, religious, educational or other non-profit corporation, 

under contracts of hire, should not be covered either.as employees of 

a subscriber or of a non-subscriber under the Workmen’s Cornpensation laws. 

The Act specifically recognizes in Section 1 (4) of Article 8309, 

that wages may be paid in board, lodgi.ng, laundry and “other advan:: 

tsges which can be estimated in money”. The fact, therefore, that 

the st,udents of Jarvis may never actually receive money as s,alary is 

unimportant. 

Nor would it be important that their employment is part-time. 

Section 1 of Article 8309 specifies how “average weekly wages” shall 

be calculated and recognizes that there will be situations under which 

an employee will work part-time or fewer than 210 days per year. 

The Act also recognizes in Article 8306, Section 12 (i) that the 

employee may be a minor. 

In view of the foresing, it is our opinion that, depending upon 

the facts of each instance, students at Jarvis Christian College parp. 138 
. - 

Mr. Jerry W. Belcher, page 3 (H-33) 

ticipating in the Federal College Work Study Program may be employees 

within the coverage of the Texas Workmen’s Compensation Act and may 

be entitled to the benefits of that Act. 

SUMMARY 

Students at a privately-owned institution of higher 

education working part-time for an hourly remuneration credited to their college expenses will be considered employees of the institution and covered by the 

Texas Workmen’s Compenaation Act provided, factually, they are employed under a contract of hire and 

do not fall within one of the excluded occupations. 

Very truly yours, 

- 

u JOHN L. HILL 

Attorney General of Texas 

APPR VED: 

/ 

DAVID M. KENDALL, Chairman 

Opinion Committee 

p. 139