Californa Compensation & Fire Co. v. Industrial Accident Commission

Max S. Colston, a general construction laborer and jack hammer driller, was employed for less than two weeks on a school construction project when he injured his left foot. The Industrial Accident Commission found that the injury caused temporary total disability and awarded him the maximum payment of $65 per week for such disability.

*599 Colston began work on the project on Tuesday, January 3, 1961, just as it was getting under way. He did not work on January 4 and worked only four hours on January 5. His wage rate at first $3.08 and then $3.29 per hour and his uninterrupted employment during the second week brought his total earnings between Tuesday, January 3 and Friday noon, January 13 to $153.72. Had he continued working at the hourly wage he was receiving during the second week his earnings would exceed the maximum used for computing compensation awards even if he worked only four days a week. (Lab. Code, § 4453.) The commission found that the “applicant was hired on a substantial construction job for an indefinite duration ... by virtue of his rate of pay, his earning capacity was such as to warrant an award of maximum compensation benefits. ’ ’ Petitioner contends that…