Opinion
January 13, 1943.
Appeal from State Industrial Board.
Present — Hill, P.J., Crapser, Bliss, Heffernan and Schenck, JJ.
The employer was engaged in business as a contractor in the building of the Queens Midtown Tunnel in New York city, where claimant was employed as a compressed air tunnel worker. Claimant became disabled as a result of compressed air illness or its sequelae. The Workmen's Compensation Law expressly provides coverage of this occupational disease. The sole issue raised by appellants concerns the question whether this occupational disease was contracted within the terms and conditions of section 40 of the Workmen's Compensation Law, which, in substance, prescribed that an occupational disease to be compensable must be contracted within twelve months previous to the date of disablement, or in the same employment with the same employer by whom the employee was employed at the time of his disablement and who had continued in the same employment with the same employer from the time of contracting the disease to the time of his disablement thereby. The State Industrial Board found that claimant became disabled as the result of an occupational disease due to the nature of his employment, which was contracted by him while employed by the employer-appellant within twelve months previous to the date of disablement. The evidence supports the finding of the State Industrial Board, and the award should be affirmed. Award unanimously affirmed, with costs to the State Industrial Board.