Qualp v. James Stewart Co.

Citations

• 266 Pa. 502
• 109 A. 780
• 1920 Pa. LEXIS 598

Syllabus

<p>Worhmen’s compensation — Employers—Subcontractors—Second subcontractor s employees — Act of June B, 1916, P. L. 786, Article III, Section SOB (b) — Notice.</p> <p>1. The employee o£ a second subcontractor is an employee of the general contractor within the meaning of article III of the Workmen’s Compensation Act of June 2, 1915. The act did not intend to limit the “hiring a laborer” to a “contractor” standing in immediate contractual relation with the employer (original contractor) ; it intended to include those laborers or employees who did work in furtherance of the employer’s business, and who were employed by one having a lawful right or duty to engage in the business undertaken by the employer.</p> <p>2. The relation of employer to those employed about the premises includes only those whose work is a part of that embraced within the terms of the employer’s contract with the owner.</p> <p>3. A stranger without lawful authority from or through the employer (original contractor) could not force himself into a position where the employer would be held for compensation liability to his (the stranger’s) employees. He must be entrusted with the work by one who had the right to so entrust him, and this right has been so broadened by the terms of the act as to exclude some of the ordinary rules of master and servant, principal and agent, contractor and contractee, as applied and understood at common law.</p> <p>4. If the original contractor desired to protect himself from liability, he could have done so by posting notices or by providing for compensation liability in his subcontract. Eailing to do so, he became, by the clear intendment of the act, liable to the employees of the second subcontractor.</p> <p>5. The act intended to throw the burden on the man who secured the original contract from the owner, to the end that employees of any degree doing work thereunder, might always be protected in compensation claims.</p> <p>6. Article II, sec. 203; art. Ill, sec. 302