263 A.D. 160 | N.Y. App. Div. | 1942
Claimant-appellant appeals from a decision of the State Industrial Board which dismissed her claim for compensation on the ground that the accident in which she sustained injuries did not arise out of and in the course of her employment.
Claimant was employed by F. E. Compton & Co., respondent, as an organizer and sales representative. Her work included selling encyclopsedias and the interviewing and hiring of saleswomen. She had no regular hours of employment. The contacts with applicants for position as sales representative were made not only at her office and at her residence, but also at various other places, including street cars, subways and railroad stations. Her employer maintained its sales office at the Park Central Hotel, Broadway and Fifty-sixth street, New York city. The executive office of the employer was at Fifth avenue and Forty-second street, about fourteen blocks south of the sales office. Claimant’s residence
The Industrial Board dismissed the claim, contending that the injuries were sustained while claimant was on a purely personal mission to her home and did not arise out of and in the course of her employment.
While as a general proposition the Board’s finding on a question of fact is final if there be evidence to support the same, it is apparent that' in this case such finding was based on the contention that claimant had no appointment that required her to leave her office and proceed to her residence but that the trip was a personal one and was made for the purpose of preparing her husband’s dinner and that the injuries resulting from the accident which occurred after she left her residence were not incurred in the course of her employment. We are not impressed with the conclusion reached by the Board. The rule laid down in Matter of Harby v. Marwell Bros., Inc. (235 N. Y. 504, affg. 203 App. Div. 525), is applicable here. There, as here, claimant was an outside worker and the court held that his work began when he left his home or place of residence. Here, the claimant’s work was not limited to her employer’s premises and when she left her place of residence for the purpose of attending a meeting scheduled by her employer, at which she and other employees were required to attend, she was performing a required duty and the accident occurred while she was in the course of her employment. (Matter of Bollard v. Engel, 278 N. Y. 463; Matter of Christiansen v. Hill Reproduction Co., 262 App. Div. 379; Matter of Madelung v. Dale Radio Co., Inc., Id. 784; affd., 287 N. Y. 556.)
Hill, P. J., Heffernan, Schenck and Foster, JJ., concur; Crapser, J., dissents.
Decision reversed and matter remitted to the State Industrial Board.