# Stafford v. Los Angeles County Employees' Retirement Board

> California Supreme Court · May 11, 1954 · 42 Cal. 2d 795

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9568778

## Case

- **Full name:** ELSAN H. STAFFORD, Appellant, v. THE LOS ANGELES COUNTY EMPLOYEES’ RETIREMENT BOARD Et Al., Respondents
- **Court:** California Supreme Court
- **Decided:** May 11, 1954
- **Citations:** 42 Cal. 2d 795; 270 P.2d 12; 1954 Cal. LEXIS 210
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Dissent by Carter
- **Judges:** Schauer, Carter
- **Cited by:** 56 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9568778

## Opinion text

CARTER, J.
I dissent.
The majority holding requires an employee to contribute *801 to workmen's compensation payable to him contrary to the constitutional and statutory policy of this state. It is of little consequence that the payments of disability pension are to be withheld up to the amount of the workmen’s compensation received by the employee rather than that the pension was credited against the compensation as was the case in Healy v. Industrial Acc. Com., 41 Cal.2d 118 [ 258 P.2d 1 ]. That involved merely a matter of time and method of accomplishing the illegal result. Under the pension law the county employee was required to and did contribute to the pension fund. Now that contribution is taken from him because he has received workmen’s compensation, that is, payment of his pension to which he contributed is withheld because he received workmen’s compensation. He is,- in effect, and for all practical purposes, paying part of the workmen’s compensation to which he is entitled without contribution by him.
The policy of this state envisions no such contribution. The Constitution provides for a complete system of workmen’s compensation. “The Legislature is hereby expressly vested with plenary power, unlimited by any provision of this Constitution, to create, and enforce a complete system of workmen’s compensation, by appropriate legislation, and in that behalf to create and enforce a liability on the part of any or all persons to compensate any or all of their workmen for injury or disability, and their dependents for death incurred or sustained by the said workmen in the course of their employment, irrespective of the fault of any party. A complete system of workmen’s compensation includes adequate provisions for the comfort, health and safety and general welfare of any and all workmen and those dependent upon them for support to the extent of relieving from the consequences of any injury or death incurred or sustained by workmen in the course of their employment, irrespective of the fault of any party; also full provision for securing safety in places of employment; . . . full provision for adequate insurance coverage against liability to pay or furnish compensation; ... all of which matters are expressly declared to be the social public poUcy of this State, binding upon all departments of the State government.” (Cal. Const., art. XX, §21; emphasis added.) The Legislature has implemented this policy by providing that: “No employer shall exact or receive from any employee any contribution, *802 or make or take any deduction from the earnings of any employee either directly or indirectly, to cover the whole or any part of the cost of compensation under this division. Violation of this section is a misdemeanor.” (Lab. Code, § 3751.) And: “Liability for compensation shall not be reduced or affected by any insurance, contribution or other benefit whatsoever due to or received by the person entitled to such compensation, except as otherwise provided by this division.” (Lab. Code, § 3752.) Nothing could be more specific than the last quoted provision. Contrary to the majority opinion it is more specific than the pension law (Gov. Code, § 31900 et seq.) and if there is a conflict, it controls.
California Jurisprudence, after referring to sections 3751 and 3752 of the Labor Code, states: “Accordingly contributions or benefits received from a labor union during a strike may not be deducted from the disability indemnity payable under the act. And when the employer takes out accident insurance in favor of the employee, out of whose wages the premiums are eventually payable, such workman is entitled, to the benefits under the policy in addition to those to which he is entitled under the statute, and the employer may not set off against compensation due from him any amounts paid under the policy.” (27 Cal.Jur. 513.) The rule is settled that the payment of salary or wages does not prevent an award of workmen’s compensation for disability and the salary is not to be deducted from the compensation unless there is express provision therefor. (Department of Motor Vehicles v. Industrial Acc. Com., 14 Cal.2d 189 [ 93 P.2d 131 ].)
The pension act cannot, under the Constitution (art. XX, § 21, supra) require that the employee contribute toward the payment of his compensation. As seen, that constitutional provision states that it is the policy of this state that there shall be a liability on the part of employers to pay compensation to their employees; that the employee shall be relieved of the consequences of an industrial injury. If the employee has to contribute to the payment of his workmen’s compensation the employer is to that extent not liable and the employee to that extent has not been relieved of the consequences of the injury. The underlying principle of a complete system of workmen’s compensation which is the constitutionally declared policy of this state is that compensation for injuries shall be borne by industry as a part of the cost of production. (Union Iron Wks. v. Industrial Acc. Com., 190 Cal. 33 [ 210 *803 P. 410 ]; Employers’ Liab. Assur. Corp. v. Industrial Acc. Com., 179 Cal. 432 [ 177 P. 273 ] ; Western Metal Supply Co. v. Pillsbury, 172 Cal. 407 [ 156 P. 491 , Ann.Cas. 1917 E 390] ; Western Indemnity Co. v. Pillsbury, 170 Cal. 686 [ 151 P. 398 ].) It must necessarily follow that no contributions to the payment of workmen’s compensation can be required of the employee. Therefore the pension act cannot constitutionally require such contribution. If it is argued that there is no contribution but only less pension payable to the employee, then what becomes of the contribution to the pension fund by the employee? Either the portion he supplied is taken away from him or he is required to help pay the workmen’s compensation which he is entitled to receive without contribution and in either case he has been deprived of at least a portion of that to which he is lawfully entitled under the workmen’s compensation law. It seems clear to me that if the Legislature may provide, in the face of article XX, section 21, of the Constitution, that an injured employee who receives workmen’s compensation may be barred from receiving a pension from a fund to which he has contributed, it may also bar him from receiving payments under a policy of health and accident insurance on which he has paid all the premiums, or from receiving other benefits from welfare agencies to which he has made contributions in order to secure such benefits. Under the majority holding here such legislation would be upheld. In my opinion it would violate the above cited constitutional mandate.
I would, therefore, reverse the judgment.
Appellant’s petition for a rehearing was denied June 9, 1954. Carter, J., was of the opinion that the petition should be granted.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9568778. Public record. Not legal advice.