Board of Education v. Industrial Accident Commission

In December of 1933, respondent Harry Stout was on the county welfare rolls of Los Angeles County, receiving aid in the form of groceries and foodstuff, being classified as an “open welfare case”. The Civil Works Administration (CWA), a federal relief agency, under its plan to furnish relief and relief work in aid of the states, requested the Board of Education of the City of Los Angeles, among other municipal corporations in Los Angeles County, to outline a project whereby work positions in and about the schools might be furnished, the plan requiring that the persons to fill these positions should be so-called “white collar” persons on the county welfare rolls. The board by resolution furnished an outline of a project, therein providing positions for clerical, gardener and janitor service and such like, but therein expressly declined to assume compensation liability or liability for injuries to workmen on the project. The CWA accepted this project and organized another agency called “Civil Works Service” (CWS) to administer the same, naming the project “Civil Works Service Project No. 8223”. The county welfare officials sent Stout to the board to qualify himself for a position in…