12 Pa. Commw. 502 | Pa. Commw. Ct. | 1974
Opinion by
This is an appeal filed by Ingersoll-Band Company (Ingersoll-Band) from an order of the Workmen’s Compensation Appeal Board (Board) dated July 19, 1973, in -which the Board affirmed the referee’s findings and conclusions, which adjudication awarded workmen’s compensation benefits to Joseph C. Taylor (Taylor).
Taylor had been an assembly worker for IngersollBand for approximately 16 years. On January 21,1971, after Taylor had parked his automobile in IngersollBand’s parking lot, which is located across the street from the plant, he slipped and fell within said parking-lot on ice covered by snow sustaining injuries to his
The law is clear that an employe may recover workmen’s compensation benefits for disability resulting from an injury sustained on the employer’s “premises.” The sole and very narrow issue presented to this Court is whether an injury sustained by an employe on a parking lot owned by the employer, but separated from the employer’s actual business operation or plant by a public thoroughfare or street has occurred on the employer’s “premises.” Since all of the facts are agreed to by the parties, the issue becomes a question of law. As was stated in Shaffer v. Somerset Community Hospital, 205 Pa. Superior Ct. 419, 421, 211 A. 2d 49, 50 (1965): “Whether the ground on which the claimant stepped from her automobile was a part of the employer’s premises and whether claimant was injured in the course of her employment, are questions of law and subject to judicial review. ...” In Shaffer, supra, the court noted that the claimant, a hospital worker, slipped on ice in the parking lot of the hospital which was adjacent to the hospital building. The court there was also faced with the question of whether a parking lot was a part of the
The effective workmen’s compensation statutory provision is found in the Workmen’s Compensation Act, Act of June 2, 1915, P. L. 736, §301, as amended, 77 P.S. §411, wherein it is stated in pertinent part: “The term Injury by an accident in the course of his employment,’ as used in this article . . . shall include all injuries caused by the condition of the premises or by the operation of the employer’s business or affairs thereon,
The word “premises” as found in the statute has been interpreted to include a driveway used by trucks in the employer’s service even though it crossed a public sidewalk. It even may cover a public road used and maintained by the employer for the operation of his business if an accident occurred on an integral part of the defendant’s property and such place could be regarded as part of the employer’s premises under the Workmen’s Compensation Act. See Eberle v. Union Dental Company, 182 Pa. Superior Ct. 519, 128 A. 2d 136 (1956). Ingersoll-Rand relies upon the Eberle decision because the result in that case ran against the claimant. In Eberle, the claimant was on his way home after work and was injured after stepping from the foot of the employer’s stairs onto a public sidewalk. The court concluded that once he reached the public thoroughfare on his way home, he was outside the scope of his employment. In this case, however, for approximately 16 years Taylor used Ingersoll-Rand’s parldng lot which it provided for the convenience of its employes. Ingersoll-Rand contends that since a public street separates the parking lot from its plant, the parking lot is not a part of its premises within the purview of the Workmen’s Compensation Act. Ingersoll-Rand apparently agrees that if the parldng lot was adjacent to its plant, it could be declared a part of the premises. We believe that to uphold Ingersoll-Rand’s contention would be to reach a result not intended by the Act.
This Court recently, in the case of Fetzer v. Michrina, 8 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 273, 301 A. 2d 924 (1973)
We recognize that this is a close legal issue. A reading of the record permits us to conclude that the subject parking lot was an integral part of Ingersoll-Rand’s business operation. We have carefully reviewed the record and the applicable law, and while recognizing that it presents a very narrow and close question of law, we hold that the Board did not commit an error of law. We therefore
Order
And Now, this 11th day of March, 1974, it is hereby ordered that judgment be entered in favor of Joseph C. Taylor and against Ingersoll-Rand Company and/or its insurance carrier for compensation for total disability at the rate of $60.00 per week from January 22, 1971 to February 25, 1971, inclusive; compensation payments to be suspended from February 25, 1971 to August 1, 1971; compensation to be paid at the rate of $45.00 per week from August 2, 1971 to March 31, 1972, inclusive; and compensation to be paid at the rate of $60.00 per week beginning April 1, 1972, continuing indefinitely