Halfacre v. Paragon Bridge & Steel Co.

• Decision Date: 04 December 1962
• Docket Number: No. 10,10
• Citation: 368 Mich. 366,118 N.W.2d 455
• Parties: Daniel HALFACRE, Plaintiff and Appellee, v. PARAGON BRIDGE AND STEEL COMPANY and Michigan Mutual Liability Company, Defendants and Appellants.
• Court: Michigan Supreme Court

Page 455

118 N.W.2d 455

368 Mich. 366

Daniel HALFACRE, Plaintiff and Appellee, v. PARAGON BRIDGE AND STEEL COMPANY and Michigan Mutual Liability Company, Defendants and Appellants.

No. 10.

Supreme Court of Michigan.

Dec. 4, 1962.

James L. Schueler and Ray R. Ravary, Detroit, for appellants.

Sauer & Girard, Pontiac, Henry A. Compeau, Pontiac, George L. Downing, Detroit, of counsel, for appellee.

Before the Entire Bench.

SOURIS, Justice (for affirmance).

Since 1927 (P.A.1927, No. 162) our workmen's compensation law has provided (first, for injured employees between the ages of 16 and 18 and then, by P.A.1929, No. 113, for those under 18 years of age):

'* * * That any minor under 18 years of age whose employment at the time of injury shall be shown to be illegal shall, in the absence of fraudulent use of permits or certificates of age, in which case only single compensation shall be paid, receive compensation double that provided elsewhere in this act.' C.L.S.1956, § 411.7 (Stat.Ann.1960 Rev. § 17.147).

C.L.1948, § 408.60 (Stat.Ann.1960 Rev. § 17.20), prohibits employment of minors in certain occupations. It also provides for the issuance of permits without which no minor under the age of 18 years legally may be employed in certain occupations and for certificates by which a minor can establish his age conclusively for employment purposes. In 1927, at the time of enactment of the statutory provision quoted above, C.L.1948, § 408.60 (Stat.Ann.1960 Rev. § 17.20) read, as it reads now, in its presently relevant parts as follows:

'Sec. 10. No child nuber [fifteen] 15 years of age shall be employed, permitted or suffered to work in or in connection with any mercantile institution, store, office, hotel, laundry, manufacturing establishment, mine, bowling alley, billiard or pool room conducted for profit, theater, passenger or freight elevator, factory or workshop, quarry, telegraph or messenger service within this state during school hours: Provided, This section shall not apply to any child of the age of [fourteen] 14 years or over, working on Saturdays or other days during the school year, outside of school hours or during the established vacation period in preserving perishable goods in fruit or vegetable canning establishments or in any mercantile institutions, store, office, hotel, laundry, manufacturing establishment, factory or workshop, quarry, telegraph or messenger service within this state * * * '(a) It shall be the duty of every mercantile institution, store, hotel, office, laundry, manufacturing establishment, mine, bowling alley, workshop, quarry, telegraph or messenger service or any person coming within the provisions of this act to keep a register in which will be recorded the name, birthplace, age and place of residence of every person employed under the age of [eighteen] 18 years and it shall be unlawful for any such establishment or person to hire or employ or permit to be hird or employed or suffer to work, any child under the age of [eighteen] 18 years without there is first provided and placed on file in the business office thereof a permit or certificate. Such permit or certificate shall be issued by the superintendent of schools of the school district in which such child resides, or the county commissioner of schools, or some one duly authorized by him in writing, any of whom shall have power to administer oaths in relation thereto. Such permit or certificates shall be returned immediately to the issuing officer by the employer when such child leaves such employment prior to reaching the age of [eighteen] 18 years. A child shall be considered as having withdrawn from his employment when he or she shall have absented himself or herself from work for [five] 5 full working days without explanation. Every limited vacation permit, hereinafter to be described, shall, upon its expiration, be void and of no effect. The said register and permit or certificate shall be produced for inspection on demand of any authorized representative of the commission. No fee shall be charged for such permit or certificate or other record required by this act by any officer by whom it shall be issued. Every employer complying with the provisions of this section shall be at liberty to employ the person so presenting the permit or certificate hereinbefore referred to, and is justified in considering and treating such person as of the age shown in such permit or certificate and shall not be liable, if it transpire that such person is under the age represented in such permit or certificate, to any greater extent than such employer would be liable if such person were of the age represented.

'(b) The person authorized and required to issue such permit or certificate shall not issue the same until he has received, examined, approved and filed the following papers duly executed:

'First: The school report of said child properly filled out and which shall be signed by the principal or chief executive officer of the school which such child has attended shall be furnished on demand of a child entitled thereto. It shall contain a statement that the child has attended the public school, or schools equivalent thereto, or parochial schools, previous to applying for such school record, and is able to read intelligently and write legibly simple sentences in the English language, and in the case of the public schools, has passed satisfactorily the work of the school up to and including the work of the sixth [6th] grade, as provided in the course of study of the public schools, or in the case of schools other than public, the equivalent thereto. Such school record shall also give the age and residence of the child as shown on the records of the school and the name of its parents or guardians or custodians: Provided, That in the case of limited vacation permits or in the case of persons over [sixteen] 16 years of age requirements relating to educational qualifications shall be waived. Limited vacation permits referred to in this act shall be construed to mean permits issued for working during vacation periods and on Saturdays or other days during the school year outside of school hours and all such permits shall expire upon the first [1st] Monday in September commonly called Labor day; shall contain a conspicuous statement of the time at which they shall expire and shall be of a special color distinct from the regular permit or certificate.

'Second: A passport, or duly attested transcript of the record of birth, as kept by any duly authorized public authority, or a record of baptism or other religious record, showing the date and place of birth of such young person;

'Third: A statement from a physician connected officially with the board or department of health, which shall be required, however, only in case the above mentioned official or religious record cannot be produced, which statement shall certify that in the opinion of the physician issuing said statement, the young person is of the age stated therein, is in sound health and physically able to perform the work which it intends to do. Such statements shall also certify to the correct weight and height of said young person, and shall be kept on file by the person issuing working permits or certificates; such person may in his discretion require also an affidavit from the parents or guardian of the young person concerned or other evidence as additional proof of age.

'(c) On the permit or certificate shall appear a statement by the issuing officer that he has examined said child; that in his opinion the child can read intelligently and write legibly simple sentences in the English language; that in his opinion the young person is of the age represented and has reached the normal development of a child of its age and is in sound health and physically able to perform the work which it intends to do, and that, in his opinion, the services of the child are essential to the support of itself or its parents: Provided, That permits or certificates for young persons [sixteen] 16 years or more of age and permits for vacation periods and Saturdays or other days during the school year outside of school hours shall not certify that the wages of the child are essential to the support of the family. In doubtful cases, physical fitness for such work shall be determined by a medical officer of the board or department of health. Every such permit or certificate shall be signed in the presence of the officer issuing the same by the child in whose name it is issued; and shall state the date and place of birth of the child, and describe the color of the hair and eyes, the height and weight and any distinguishing facial marks of such child, and that the paper required by the preceding sections has been duly received, examined, approved and filed, and that the child named in such permit or certificate has appeared before the issuing official and been examined;

'(d) Any person who shall make a false statement, transcript, passport, school certificate, certificate of physical fitness, school record or any other writing required to be made or filed by the provisions of this section shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine of not less than [ten] 10 nor more than [one hundred] 100 dollars or imprisonment for not less than [ten] 10 days nor more than [ninety] 90 days, or by both such fine and imprisonment in the discretion of the court;

'(e) Any child under [seventeen] 17 years of age living or working in a school district maintaining a continuation school under Act No. [four hundred twenty-one] 421 of the public acts of [nineteen hundred nineteen] 1919, as amended, shall be subject to that act.'

The appeal board of the workmen's compensation department (by a 2 to 1 vote) affirmed a referee's award to claimant of double compensation for injuries incurred while illegally employed as a minor, claimant not having made fraudulent use of permits or...