Case Information
*1 ORNEY GENERAL BF?t?EXAS peril 28, 1948 Hon. A. F. Mltohell,.Chairoan
Board of Registration for
ProfesslonaZ Rnglneers
Au&In, Texas opinion Ho. v-557 Attn.; Ron. Carl L. Svenson Re: The applloabflitX 0r
,the designation em- ployees of the Cover* ment of the United States to employee8 of Ravarro County Rural Rlectrlrlcatlon AuthoFlty.
Dear Sir:
Referenoe is mtle to your recent request which la am follovar
'Cur Board woultl appreolate your advising u8 as to your opinion on the following lmtterr
'Are the employees of the NavarPo County Rural Rlectrlficatlon Authority Federal employees or not?.
Subsequently you informed ua that your quea* tion was asked for the purpose of detemlnlng whether said employees were exempt from the provisiona of aub- dlvlslon (d) oi Section 20 of Article 3271a, V. C. S., which provides, in part, a.8 follows:
"Sec. 20. The following persons shall be exempt from the provisions of this Aot, to-wit: . . .
"(a) Officers and employees of the Government of the United Mates while en- gaged within this State in the praotlce of the profemeaion of engineering for said Government.
Hon. A. F. Mitchell, (v-557 >
We assume that by the term Ravarro County Rural Electrification Author,itg you mean Navarro Coun- ty Electric since the records in the Secretary of State’s office reflect that there is a cor- por:ation by this name and incorporated under Article 1528b, V. C. 3. Said Act Is known as the Electric Co- operative Corporation Act and provides that corporations may be organized for the purpose of engaging In rural electrification and may furnish electric energy to per- sons In rural areas who are not receiving central sta- Said Act also authorizes such corpora- tion sewice. tions, among other things, to borrow money and to do those other things necessary in order to carry into ef- fect the purposes for which they were incorporated.
The Rural Electrification Act of 1936 of the Congress of the United States, as amended, 7 U.S.C. 901- 915, authorizes loans to be made to persons, corpora- and subdivisions and agen- tions, states, territories, cies thereof, municipalities, peoples, utility dis- tricts, and cooperatives, non-profit or limited - divi- organized under laws of any state or dend associations, territory of the United States for the purpose of finan- cing the construction and operation of generating plants, electric transmission and distribution lines or systems for the furnishing of electric energy to persons in rural areas who are not receiving central station ser- vice and provides for appropriations, etc.
In the case of Traders & Qeneral Ins. Co, v. Wood, et al., 148 S,W.(2d) 973, by the Court of Civil Appeals (writ dismissed) the court In determining wneth- er one was an employee under the Workmen’s Compensation Act said:
“It is held by our courts that in order to be an employee the relation of master and servant must exist in the sense that one party has the rig$t ultimate over the other.
In 30 C. J. S. 22’7, we find: ” . * * but It has been said that the test to determine if one person Is another’s employee is whether or not he is gubjtct to the control of such other person.
Eon. A. F. Mitchell, (v-557)
Here we have a private corporation organized under State law and which Is authorized to borrow money from the Federal Ooverament under the Acts of Congress and the laws Or this The employees of such cor- State. are not under the control poration of the Federal Gov- ernment but are under direct and supervision the Ravarro County Electric Cooperative, Inc. Applying the standard set out in the above quoted case and 30 C. J. S., aupra, you are respectfully advised that it la the opinion of this department that the employees of the Navarro County Electric Inc. are not Feder- al employees within the meaning of Section 20 of Article 3271a, V. C. 3.
The employees of the Ravarro;County Electric Cooperative are not Feder- al employees within the meaning of Section 3271a, V. C. S. 20 0s tit.
Yours very truly, ATTORNRY GENERAL OF TEXAS BY lbA:mW Assistant
APPROVED: ATTORRRY GERRRAL