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April 26, 1973
Mr. Jerry W. Belcher Opinion No. H- 33
Aesistant Executive Director
Industrial Accident Board Re: Whether students
State Finance Building participating in the
Austin, Texas 78711 Federal College Work
Study Program at a
privately-owned college
are employees under the
Workmen’s Compensation
Dear Mr. Belcher: Act.
You have aeked our opinion ae to whether or not studenta it privately-
owned Jarvie Chriotian College of Hawkins, Texas, who participate in
the Federal College Work Study Program ire to be considered employees
of the college under ‘the Texas Workmen’s Compenbation Acf’ao as to’
be entitled to its benefits. You state that the Feder,al program (42 U. S. C.
Section 2751, et.seq. ) pro&ides funds to thenprivate college to be user%
in hiring needy students to do part-time work for’ the college. The
student is charged for his tuition, books dtid other expenses &t the’beginning
t
of the semester and. every four or five weeks , wages which he has ‘earned
under the program are ciodited against thdbe cl&gee. ”
As you des~cribe the program. about 88’per cent of the 450 students
engaged in the program atJarvir work all classroom assistants, lab ’
and library assistants, student personnel rrsistantr, clerical work,
artr and crafts assistants and other’technician type jobs. About
“’ 20
per cent work in building maintenance type jobe. The rate of’piy is deter-
mined by the student’6 economic need. Notie can work more.‘than 15 hours
a week and the average rate of pay is approximately $2.00 per ho&.
:
In June of 1972, thie office issued its opinion M-1142 answering *
a similar question with reference to students enrolled in’Texaa colleges
and universities. That opinion cited the fact that state colleges. and >
universities are not subject to the general principles of the Workmen’s
Compensation Act (Art. 8306, et seq., Vernon’s Texas Civil
p. 137
. -
Mr. Jerry W. Belcher, page 2 (H-33)
Statutes) but are governed, if at all, by specific statutes such as Arti-
cles 8309b, 8309d and 8309f, V. T. C. S. These statutes generally de-
signate the specific poaitions at the various institutions which are cov-
ered.
In Opinion M-1142 it was stated that the manner of remuneration,
that is whether by a credit to his accounts or by the direct receipt of
money, was immaterial. Citing American Fire & Casualty Co v. Baker,
431 S. W. 2d 956 (Tex. Civ. App., 1961 err. ref., n. r. e)., it was likewiee
stated that the fact that the funds used in large part to offset the cost
of the program were .received from the Federal government would have
no bearing on the determination of coverage.
Section 2 of Article 8306, V. T. C. S., provides that the Workmen’s
Compensation Law shall not apply to actions for injuries sustained by
domestic servants, farm laborers, ranch laborers, or employees of
a firm having less than three employees; nor shall it apply to the em-
ployees of any firm operating a steam, electric, street or interurban
railway as a common carrier.
Who are employees is determined by Article 8309, Section I,
V. T. C. S., which defines “employee” to include every pereon in the
service of another under any contract of hire, expressed or implied,
oral or written. With the abolition of the doctrine of charitable immu-
nity by the Supreme Court in Howle v. Camp Amon Carter, 470 S. W. 2d
629 (Tex. 1971), no reason exists why employees of a privately-owned
charitable, religious, educational or other non-profit corporation,
under contracts of hire, should not be covered either.as employees of
a subscriber or of a non-subscriber under the Workmen’s Cornpensa-
tion laws.
The Act specifically recognizes in Section 1 (4) of Article 8309,
that wages may be paid in board, lodgi.ng, laundry and “other advan::
tsges which can be estimated in money”. The fact, therefore, that
the st,udents of Jarvis may never actually receive money as s,alary is
unimportant.
Nor would it be important that their employment is part-time.
Section 1 of Article 8309 specifies how “average weekly wages” shall
be calculated and recognizes that there will be situations under which
an employee will work part-time or fewer than 210 days per year.
The Act also recognizes in Article 8306, Section 12 (i) that the
employee may be a minor.
In view of the foresing, it is our opinion that, depending upon
the facts of each instance, students at Jarvis Christian College par-
p. 138
. -
Mr. Jerry W. Belcher, page 3 (H-33)
ticipating in the Federal College Work Study Program may be employees
within the coverage of the Texas Workmen’s Compensation Act and may
be entitled to the benefits of that Act.
SUMMARY
Students at a privately-owned institution of higher
education working part-time for an hourly remunera-
tion credited to their college expenses will be consi-
dered employees of the institution and covered by the
Texas Workmen’s Compenaation Act provided, fact-
ually, they are employed under a contract of hire and
do not fall within one of the excluded occupations.
Very truly yours,
-
u JOHN L. HILL
Attorney General of Texas
APPR VED:
/
DAVID M. KENDALL, Chairman
Opinion Committee
p. 139