Bethel v. Sunlight Janitor Service

• Decision Date: 14 June 1977
• Docket Number: No. 59941,59941
• Citation: 551 S.W.2d 616
• Parties: Benjamin F. BETHEL, Appellant, v. SUNLIGHT JANITOR SERVICE and United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co., Respondents. . En Banc
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

Page 616

551 S.W.2d 616

Benjamin F. BETHEL, Appellant, v. SUNLIGHT JANITOR SERVICE and United States Fidelity &amp Guaranty Co., Respondents.

No. 59941.

Supreme Court of Missouri.

En Banc.

June 14, 1977.

Godfrey P. Padberg, St. Louis, for appellant.

Terry A. Bond, St. Louis, for respondents.

BARDGETT, Judge.

The issue is whether a sole proprietor of an unincorporated business an employer is eligible to receive workmen's compensation benefits as an employee when he is injured in an accident while performing duties regularly performed by one of his employees. The Industrial Commission denied compensation and the circuit court affirmed. The court of appeals, St. Louis district, affirmed and, after opinion, overruled plaintiff-appellant's motion for rehearing but sustained appellant's motion to transfer to this court pursuant to art. V, sec. 10, Mo.Const., as amended.

This court holds that a sole proprietor of an unincorporated business is not an "employee" of that business and, therefore, is not eligible to receive benefits under the workmen's compensation law of Missouri and affirm the judgment. Major portions of the court of appeals opinion of Simeone, J., are utilized without quotation marks.

Plaintiff Benjamin Bethel is the sole owner and operator of Sunlight Janitor Service and Window Cleaning Company, ¹ an unincorporated business. On October 24, 1969, one of his employees did not report for work so Mr. Bethel proceeded to do the same work washing windows that the absent employee would have done had he been at work. While washing windows on a ladder, Mr. Bethel fell and was severely injured. As noted supra, compensation was denied on the sole ground that appellant was not an "employee" within the meaning of sec. 287.020, subsec. 1, RSMo Supp. 1975.

On this appeal appellant contends the lower court erred (1) in holding that he was not an employee within the meaning of sec. 287.020, subsec. 1, RSMo Supp. 1975, and (2) because denial of recovery deprives appellant of equal protection of law under the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.

As to his first point, appellant argues that sec. 287.020, subsec. 1, was amended by the General Assembly in 1967 to permit executive officers of corporations to be eligible for workmen's compensation benefits and that the court of appeals, St. Louis district, in Lynn v. Lloyd A. Lynn, Inc., 493 S.W.2d 363 (Mo.App.1973), held that a sole owner and manager of a corporation is eligible for benefits as an "employee", hence Mr. Bethel should also be entitled to such benefits. To deny him such benefits would be ". . . inconsistent not only with the spirit of that decision (Lynn ), but with the Workmen's Compensation Act itself. . . ." He urges that the Act be liberally construed, as in Lynn, 493 S.W.2d at 366, and that his status as an "employee" should have been determined by an analysis of ". . . whether or not he was exposed to the hazards of the occupation or industry at the time that he sustained the injury complained of . . ." and not on the basis of the employer-employee status.

On oral argument counsel urged us to adopt the "hazard of occupation" test, i. e., if the employer is performing the work of one of his employees he is eligible for compensation. He also argued that Lynn v. Lloyd A. Lynn, Inc., supra, indicates that the court should extend the benefits of compensation to the largest possible class of persons.

While there is no doubt that the equities of the situation favor Mr. Bethel, we are compelled, nevertheless, to affirm the decision denying him compensation benefits under the present wording of the workmen's compensation law.

The workmen's compensation law which became effective in 1927 has for its legitimate purpose the amelioration of losses sustained by workmen or employees and his or her dependents received in the proper scope of work all in the interest of employees and the public welfare. Throughout the history of our compensation law, numerous appellate decisions detail the scope and purpose of the law. The purpose is to provide a simple and nontechnical method of compensation for injuries sustained by employees through accident arising out of and in the course of employment and to place the burden of such losses on industry. ² Innumerable decisions indicate that the law is intended to enable an injured employee to recover compensation and to do away with the common law defenses and disabilities.

The Workmen's Compensation Act, Chapter 287, and the numerous sections therein, define, distinguish and set forth the rights, duties, exemptions and coverage of "employers" and "employees".

Our present law defines both "employer" and "employee". "Employee" is defined in sec. 287.020, subsec. 1, RSMo Supp. 1975. That section provides:

"1. The word 'employee' as used in this chapter shall be construed to mean every person in the service of any employer, . . . under any contract of hire, express or implied, oral or written, or under any appointment or election, including executive officers of corporations. . . ."

Appellant urges that since the General Assembly in 1967 amended the definition of employee to include officers of corporations the court should, in the light of Lynn, supra, extend eligibility to Mr. Bethel the sole proprietor of his business. It is true that prior to the amendment of this subsection in 1967 it was held that " . . . one who is both chief officer and majority owner in actual control of operations (of a corporation) does not have the status of an employee under Workmen's Compensation Acts. . . ." Soars v. Soars-Lovelace, Inc., supra, 142 S.W.2d at 869. But, because of the 1967 amendment, it was held in Lynn, supra, that " . . . it was the legislative intent to overrule Soars and its progeny. . . ." Lynn v. Lloyd A. Lynn, Inc., supra, 493 S.W.2d at 365. It was also stated therein that:

"When the Legislature amended sec. 287.020(1), RSMo 1959, V.A.M.S., by including executive officers of corporations under the definition of 'employee,' it is our conclusion that they intended to include executive officers of corporations irrespective of whether or not these officers rendered controllable services or exercised control over the services of others. If by reason of their employment they were subjected to the hazards of the occupation or industry, then under the liberal extension of the Workmen's Compensation Act and the directive of the Legislature contained in this section, they should be considered employees within the terms of the act." Lynn, supra, 493 S.W.2d at 366.

But the plain fact is that by the amendment of sec. 287.020, subsection 1, in 1967, the General Assembly did not see fit to include owners or executive officers of any "business". The 1967 amendment did not expressly provide that the owner or sole proprietor or partner of any business should also be eligible for workmen's compensation benefits while performing the duties of an employee. The language of the statute is clear and unambiguous. We cannot alter the plain, ordinary and natural meaning of the words used. It is our duty to determine the meaning of the statute from the words used by applying the plain and natural meaning of the language. Laswell v. Industrial Com'n of Missouri, etc., 534 S.W.2d 613, 616 (Mo.App.1976). Under the statute an employee is a person " . . . in the service of any employer, . . . under any contract of hire, express or implied, oral or written, or under any appointment or election, . . ." It cannot be judicially extended to include categories of persons not expressly provided in the statute. ³ Simply put, an "employer" is not an "employee" and is not within the express definition of an "employee" in the Act. For purposes of the Act in its present form an individual cannot, at one and the same time, be considered to be an employer and an employee. The Act throughout bespeaks of the rights, duties and limitations arising out of the "employer-employee" relationship. That relationship is bottomed upon services performed by an employee for an employer.

Because of the express, clear and unambiguous language of the definition of employee in our statute we are compelled to conclude that Mr. Bethel is not within the present terms of the law and hence is not eligible, under the circumstances, to receive workmen's compensation benefits. ⁴

It has always been clear that eligibility for compensation benefits is determined by the terms and definitions set forth in the Workmen's Compensation Act, Ward v. Curry, 341 S.W.2d 830, 836 (Mo.1960), and that the claimant has the burden to establish that he is an employee within the meaning of the statute, Voss v. Merchants Dairy Company, 373 S.W.2d 662, 663 (Mo.App.1963).

This conclusion finds support in numerous authorities in Missouri and elsewhere. In Chambers v. Macon Wholesale Grocer Co., 334 Mo. 1215, 70 S.W.2d 884, 888-889 (1934), the widow of a partner in a business was denied compensation death benefits, the court holding:

"(T)he language and plan of our act clearly contemplates 'a relation between two opposite parties, of whom one is employer and the other employee.'

"(W)e think it is clear that our Compensation Act intended to add to the cost of producing goods, to be borne by consumers, only the charges of compensating employees of industries for injuries, and not for compensation for injuries to the owners of industries, whether such owner was an individual owner or a partnership owner."

Our conclusion is also supported by authorities in other jurisdictions. In Rosamond Construction Company v. Rosamond, 292 P.2d 392 (Okl.1956), the claimant was the sole owner of a company. The issue was whether a person may be an employer and at the same time his own employee. The Supreme Court of Oklahoma held that before a person is eligible for such benefits the relationship of employer and employee must first exist and that a person cannot be his own employee and employer at the...