Court Opinion

ID: 9670422
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 03:20:18.694697+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:51:04.342870
License: Public Domain

T. M. Burns, J.
(dissenting). I cannot agree with my brothers that plaintiff was not entitled to workmen’s compensation benefits. I believe that the decedent was not an independent contractor, but an employee of Searls & White and thus covered by the act.
The question crucial to this case is who is to be considered an employee within the meaning of the Workmen’s Compensation Act. As professor Larson stated in his treatise on workmen’s compensation law, 1-A Larson, Workmen’s Compensation, § 43.41, pp 8-7, 8-8:
"The newer way of looking at the concept, which is associated with the Supreme Court opinions in the Hearst [NLRB v Hearst Publications, 322 US 111; 64 S Ct 851; 88 L Ed 1170 (1944)] and Silk [United States v Silk, 331 US 704; 67 S Ct 1463; 91 L Ed 1757 (1947)] cases, is to say that, just as the 'servant’ concept was tailored to fit a particular purpose — the definition of the scope of a master’s vicarious tort liability — so the term 'employee’ when used in social and labor legislation should be interpreted in the light of the purpose of the legislation. * * * if the evil aimed at by the legislation is insecurity confronting workers who may undergo temporary unemployment, the term 'employee’ should include workers who, as a matter of economic reality, are subject to that hazard.”
The workmen’s compensation law is a remedial statute enacted primarily for the benefit of the man who works in the pursuits subject to its *719provisions. Lahti v Fosterling, 357 Mich 578, 579; 99 NW2d 490 (1959). And the act, being remedial, should receive a liberal construction in favor of injured employees. Century Indemnity Co v Schmick, 351 Mich 622, 626; 88 NW2d 622 (1958). Pursuant to the principle of liberal construction, I would hold that the decedent was an employee within the meaning of the act.
In Tata v Muskovitz, 354 Mich 695; 94 NW2d 71 (1959), defendant, a plumbing concern that received a job to clear out some sewers, asked Tata to perform the work for a lesser sum. While working on the job, Tata was told where to perform the job but was not supervised in the precise details of the work. Tata died when the trench in which he was working caved in on him. The question in Tata was whether decedent could be considered an employee of the defendant or merely an independent contractor. The Supreme Court affirmed an award of workmen’s compensation benefits and in doing so adopted Justice Smith’s dissenting opinion in Powell v Employment Security Commission, 345 Mich 455, 462; 75 NW2d 874 (1956), as the proper guide to relevant interpretation of the workmen’s compensation law.
It is my opinion that Tata v Muskovitz, supra, controls the facts in this case and that the appeal board erred in holding that the relationship of employer and employee did not exist between plaintiffs decedent and defendant Searls & White. In the case at bar, plaintiffs decedent was told where to perform the work but not supervised in the precise details of that work. Like Mr. Tata, Mr. White died while working on the job. Therefore, applying the Tata rationale, I would hold that an employer-employee relationship did exist between plaintiffs decedent and the defendant. *720Consequently, plaintiff is entitled to workmen’s compensation benefits.
In their opinion the majority applied seven factors of the so-called economic reality test to support their conclusion that plaintiff was not entitled to benefits. However, the majority ignored the eighth factor listed in McKissic v Bodine, 42 Mich App 203, 209; 201 NW2d 333 (1972), namely that "weight should be given to those factors which will most favorably effectuate the objectives of the statute”. Keeping in mind the fact that the workmen’s compensation statute should be liberally construed in favor of injured employees, I would hold that decedent was an employee within the meaning of the Workmen’s Compensation Act. Accordingly, I would also hold that plaintiff is entitled to workmen’s compensation benefits.