California Shipbuilding Corp. v. Industrial Accident Commission

Petitioner, California Shipbuilding Corporation, seeks review and annulment of an award of increased compensation made by the Industrial Accident *271 Commission in favor of petitioner’s employe, Cleo Rogers. Such award was made pursuant to section 4553 of the Labor Code, which provides that “The amount of compensation otherwise recoverable shall be increased one-half where the employee is injured by reason of the serious and wilful misconduct of any of the following: ... (c) If the employer is a corporation, on the part of an executive, managing officer, or general superintendent thereof.”

The commission found that Rogers’ compensable injury “was proximately caused by the serious and wilful misconduct of the employer, consisting of a violation of Section 7-5050 of the Electrical Safety Orders of the Industrial Accident Commission [which forbids operation of equipment which can be brought within 6 feet of high-voltage lines] and Sections 6400 to 6403 inclusive of the Labor Code [which require that the employer furnish a safe place of employment] in that the . . . employer failed to exercise the necessary, or any care, to ascertain the location of the high-powered wires.”…