Opinion
May 11, 1949.
Present — Foster, P.J., Heffernan, Brewster, Deyo and Bergan, JJ. [See post, p. 1005.]
Appeal by an employer and its insurance carrier from an award of disability compensation. The employer was engaged in the construction business and had its offices in New York City. The claimant was employed by it as a carpenter. On October 28, 1946, claimant was working for his employer building a coal tower at Bucksport, Maine, when he fell from an "A" frame, twenty-eight feet high, and received extensive back injuries. The appellants contend that the Workmen's Compensation Board of the State of New York has no jurisdiction over claimant. The board found that the employer was a New York corporation and that all its records were kept in this State and that all its business transactions emanated from the New York office; that its employees were covered by a compensation policy written in the State of New York and that whenever a job required any work to be performed outside the State of New York, the locations were added by an indorsement to the policy. Claimant was a resident of the State of New York during the period of his employment; he was hired in the State of New York and was in the employer's general employ. The employment took claimant to various jobs in this State and outside of the State. Claimant was paid full time whether he worked or not and all his transportation expenses from place to place were paid by the employer. He also received his board and other allowances. Claimant was paid his salary from the New York office. It also appeared that the unemployment insurance taxes based on claimant's salary were paid directly to the State of New York. The board found that the employment of claimant was not at a fixed location outside the State of New York, that the operation at Bucksport, Maine, where the claimant was injured, and the many other places where he worked outside the State of New York, were temporary and transitory in nature and that they were incidental to the business of the employer which was conducted in New York State. The Workmen's Compensation Board has jurisdiction of the claim. Award unanimously affirmed, with costs to the Workmen's Compensation Board.