62 A.2d 116 | Pa. Super. Ct. | 1948
Submitted September 27, 1948. In this workmen's compensation case, William D. Thompson and Earmon Thompson, trading and doing business as the Thompson Furniture Company, have appealed from the judgment of the court below sustaining an award of compensation to claimant for the loss of use of three fingers of the right hand. Claimant was accidentally injured on November 21, 1946, while he was operating a power driven circular saw upon the premises of appellants. Appellants were engaged in manufacturing furniture, and claimant's injury occurred while making the forms. On this appeal, appellants present two contentions: (1) That no contract of employment existed between claimant and appellants at the time the accident occurred, and (2) that if such contract did exist the character of the employment was merely casual.
We agree with the conclusion of the Workmen's Compensation Board and the court below that claimant was an employee of appellants, and that he was injured in the regular course of appellants' business. In James v. Shapiro et al.,
It thus appears that claimant commenced work for appellants on November 18, 1946, under a contract of employment in which the single factor of rate of compensation was left open for future determination. However, on November 19, 1946, a rate of eighty cents per hour was fixed, with the result that on November 21, 1946, when the accident occurred, there existed between the parties a contract of employment which was complete in all respects. The conclusion that claimant was an employee of appellants under the Workmen's Compensation Act at the time of his injury was warranted and proper.
The second contention of appellants is entirely without merit. It would not be sufficient for appellants to establish that claimant's employment was casual. They would be obliged to go further and show that the employment was not in the regular course of their business. They did neither. Workmen's Compensation Act of June 2, 1915, P.L. 736, § 104, as further reënacted and amended by the Act of June 21, 1939, P.L. 520, § 1,
Judgment is affirmed.