Great Western Mushroom Co. v. Industrial Com'n, 14295.

• Decision Date: 11 July 1938
• Docket Number: 14295.
• Citation: 103 Colo. 39,82 P.2d 751
• Parties: GREAT WESTERN MUSHROOM CO. v. INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION.
• Court: Colorado Supreme Court

82 P.2d 751

103 Colo. 39

GREAT WESTERN MUSHROOM CO. v. INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION.

No. 14295.

Supreme Court of Colorado, En Banc.

July 11, 1938

Rehearing Denied Sept. 19, 1938.

Error to District Court, City and County of Denver; Otto Bock Judge.

Action by the Industrial Commission of the State of Colorado against the Great Western Mushroom Company to recover unemployment compensation contributions. From an adverse judgment defendant brings error.

Affirmed.

BURKE C.J., and BOUCK, J., dissenting.

Garwood & Garwood, of Denver, for plaintiff in error.

Byron G. Rogers, Atty. Gen., and Walter F. Scherer Asst. Atty. Gen., for defendant in error.

HILLIARD Justice.

An action by the Industrial Commission of Colorado against the Great Western Mushroom Company, a corporation, to recover unemployment compensation contributions based upon wages the company pays to its employees. The claim is founded upon the provisions of chapter 2, p. 13, third extraordinary session 1936, chapter 167A, '37 Supp. '35 C.S.A., concerning unemployment compensation. The company's position is that it is exempt from the provisions of the act because its employees are engaged in 'agricultural labor.' Section 19(4)(D), p. 54. Judgment entered against the company in a sum not questioned as to amount.

In the company's operations mushrooms are grown in beds within sheds, where temperature and humidity are controlled; and, although the place where they are grown is called a 'farm,' it is not, as presently we shall see, a farm as that term ordinarily is employed. The area required is relatively small. The company here operates two such mushroom plants, one within, and one without but near, Denver. It so employs its facilities and times its plantings that it gathers and markets mushrooms every day. In a word, the crop is not seasonal. The company's entire product is processed and packaged on the premises where the mushrooms are grown. In growing, gathering, packaging and marketing its mushrooms the company employs regularly from sixty to seventy-five people. Its labor turnover is not excessive, or, otherwise stated, its workers reasonably may expect steady employment.

The question is whether the company's employees are engaged in what may be said to be 'agricultural labor.' Section 2 of the act reads: 'As a guide to the interpretation and application of this Act, the public policy of this State is declared to be as follows: Economic insecurity due to unemployment is a serious menace to the health, morals, and welfare of the people of this State. Involuntary unemployment is therefore a subject of general interest and concern which requires appropriate action by the legislature to prevent its spread and to lighten its burden which now so often falls with crushing force upon the unemployed worker and his family. The achievement of social security requires protection against this greatest hazard of our economic life. This can be provided by encouraging employers to provide more stable employment and by the systematic accumulation of funds during periods of employment to provide benefits for periods of unemployment, thus maintaining purchasing power and limiting the serious social consequences of proof relief assistance. The legislature therefore, declares that in its considered judgment the public good, and the general welfare of the citizens of this State...