Oregon County Fair v. Filings of the National Council on Compensation Insurance

877 P.2d 1207, 129 Or. App. 73, 1994 Ore. App. LEXIS 990
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedJuly 6, 1994
Docket91-03-010; CA A75377
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 877 P.2d 1207 (Oregon County Fair v. Filings of the National Council on Compensation Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Oregon County Fair v. Filings of the National Council on Compensation Insurance, 877 P.2d 1207, 129 Or. App. 73, 1994 Ore. App. LEXIS 990 (Or. Ct. App. 1994).

Opinion

HASELTON, J.

Oregon Country Fair (Fair) seeks review of a Department of Insurance and Finance (DIF)1 final order requiring it to pay workers’ compensation premiums to its carrier, SAIF Corporation, for two audit periods, covering February 1,1987 through March 31, 1990. In particular, the Fair challenges DIF’s determination that SAIF properly assessed premiums against the Fair’s disbursement of vouchers for food and services and per diem payments to individuals providing services associated with the Fair. We reverse in part and affirm in part.

The Fair is a nonprofit, tax-exempt, charitable corporation that conducts a three-day fair during the second weekend of July each year. Approximately 30,000 people attended the fair in each of the audit years. In 1989, the Fair hired two regularly paid workers, a caretaker and general manager. It otherwise operated on “volunteer”2 services.

There were two categories of volunteers. First, a “core group” of about 20 volunteers helped prepare the fair site for one month before the fair, and helped restore the site to its original condition for one week after the fair. Second, approximately 700 to 1000 volunteers (the “three-day volunteers”) assisted during the three days of the fair, performing such tasks as directing traffic, staffing information booths, and transporting water.3

Members of the core group received a “per diem” payment of up to $25 per day for each day they worked before and after the fair, but not during the fair. Although the per diem payments were budgeted in advance, the actual disbursal of this money depended on the Fair’s gate receipts and were distributed at the discretion of crew coordinators. In [76]*76addition to per diems, core group volunteers received free meals and campsites.

The three-day volunteers received vouchers which were intended to be exchanged for food or showers, but which could also be redeemed for cash at the end of the fair. A volunteer could receive one voucher, worth $2, for every hour worked, up to a maximum of eight vouchers per day. Distribution of vouchers was contingent on an ongoing projection of sufficient gate proceeds and, like the per diems, the vouchers were issued at the discretion of crew coordinators.

In 1990, SAIF conducted a premium audit of the Fair. SAIF concluded that the vouchers and per diems were paid to “subject workers” within the meaning of former ORS 656.005(27)4 and were, thus, subject to accounting for purposes of premium assessment, yielding an additional premium assessment of $5,252. The Fair appealed, and DIF upheld the premium assessment on the ground that the individuals providing services to petitioner were subject workers.

The Fair argues that DIF erred in upholding SAIF’s premium assessment for two reasons. First, neither the core group volunteers nor the three-day volunteers were “workers” under former ORS 656.005(27) because the Fair had no contract for remuneration with the volunteers and the volunteers were not subject to the Fair’s direction and control. Second, the Fair argues that, even if the volunteers were “workers,” they were exempt from workers’ compensation coverage under ORS 656.027(10).5 Because the analysis of these issues varies with respect to the core group volunteers and the three-day volunteers, we address each in turn.

[77]*77 Core Group Volunteers

Our analysis of the core group’s receipt of per diem disbursements follows the methodology set out in S-W Floor Cover Shop v. Natl. Council on Comp. Ins., 318 Or 614, 872 P2d 1 (1994). Thus, we first consider whether DIF correctly concluded that the core group volunteers were “workers” under former ORS 656.005(27). If we sustain DIF’s determination in that regard, we must then determine whether the core group volunteers fall within one of the statutory “non-subject worker” exemptions, including ORS 656.027(10).

Former ORS 656.005(27) provided, in part:

“ ‘Worker’ means any person * * * who engages to furnish services for a remuneration, subject to the direction and control of an employer * * *.”

ORS 656.005(13) provides:

“ ‘Employer’means any person* * * who contracts to pay a remuneration for and secures the right to direct and control the services of any person.”

The Fair argues that it had no contract with the core group volunteers because those volunteers had no legally enforceable entitlement to consideration for their services, specifically including the per diem payments. In particular, the Fair argues that there was no enforceable entitlement to per diems because the actual amount to be paid was undetermined and at the discretion of the crew coordinators.

DIF made the following finding:

“If the crew coordinator’s per diem requests were within the previously board-established budget, and the gate admissions were sufficient to cover the payments, the core group received the payments. If the crew coordinator’s per diem requests exceeded the budget, or the gate admissions were insufficient to allow per diem payments, the fair coordinator denied the request. The core group workers knew that per diem payments were budgeted and that they would receive some payment if the petitioner’s gate admissions were sufficient to allow disbursement of per diem payments.” (Emphasis supplied.)

Thus, DIF found that, if the Fair’s gate proceeds were sufficient, per diems would be paid, although a specific amount [78]*78was not guaranteed. That finding was supported by substantial evidence. ORS 656.298; ORS 183.482. In such circumstances, where “the expectation of pay is uncertain in the sense of being conditional on the prosperity of the enterprise[,]” there was a contract for hire between the Fair and the core group volunteers. IB Larson, Workmen’s Compensation Law 8-372, § 47.42(a) (1993).

Because there was a contract of hire, core group members were “workers” under former ORS 656.005(27), if they were subject to the Fair’s direction and control. Four factors are material in determining whether an employer has the right to control an individual:

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Bluebook (online)
877 P.2d 1207, 129 Or. App. 73, 1994 Ore. App. LEXIS 990, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/oregon-county-fair-v-filings-of-the-national-council-on-compensation-orctapp-1994.