Majority
These six appeals present the question whether the New York unemployment insurance law (Labor Law, art. 18; Cons. Laws, ch. 31) imposing a pay-roll tax upon all employers of four or more employees, without discrimination and without exception here material, is applicable to marine employments.
In four of the above cases the Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board has found that the claimants had been employed as members of the crews of vessels on the navigable waters of the United States and for that reason the Board held that they were not covered by the unemployment insurance law. In the two remaining cases (Matter of Cassaretakis and Matter of Bergen) the Board has found that the claimants, although engaged in marine employments, had not been employed as members of the crews of vessels on the navigable waters of the United States, and on this basis held that they were covered by the statute in question.
Upon appeal to the Appellate Division, the decision of the Board in the four cases first mentioned above was sustained. In the other two cases, however, the determinations were reversed upon the ground that, by reason of the admiralty clause of the Federal Constitution, the unemployment insurance statute may not be held applicable to maritime employments.
The definition of employment contained in the New York Act (Labor Law, § 502) is admittedly sufficiently broad to cover all
Whether or not an individual is a member of a crew of a vessel on the navigable waters of the United States presents primarily a question of fact which turns generally on whether the individual serves the ship in her navigation. (South Chicago Coal & Dock Co. v. Bassett, 309 U. S. 251 , 259.) In consequence the determination of the Appeal Board, if sustained by substantial evidence, is conclusive upon the courts. (Labor Law, art. 18, § 534; Matter of Morton, 284 N. Y. 167 .) Upon this record there is substantial evidence to sustain the findings of fact in this regard of the Appeal Board. As to the four claimants who were found to be members of the crews of vessels, Sheredos was a cook on a self-propelled vessel carrying petroleum between points in New York and New Jersey; Schein was an attendant on a speed boat which transported passengers from a New York city pier to the World’s Fair; Khowlson was second engineer on a tugboat; Smith was a fireman on a lighter. All were plainly members of crews of vessels. On the other hand, Cassaretakis was assistant cook on board a dredge which was employed in a land filling operation in connection with the construction of a public highway. Bergen was a grain-trimmer on a floating grain elevator, his work being in connection with transfer of grain from one barge to another for purposes of further transportation. The employment of these two latter claimants, therefore, may be deemed incidental to construction and stevedoring operations, respectively, rather than to navigation. In consequence, Cassaretakis and Bergen, although concededly engaged in general maritime employment, were not members of crews of vessels on the navigable waters of the United States. These two claimants have, moreover, been found to be engaged in employment the whole or greater part of which was transacted within this State.
In order to induce the several States to enact unemployment insurance statutes, the Federal government, by the Federal Unemployment Tax Act (Internal Revenue Code, U. S. Code, tit. 26, §§ 1600, 1601) levied a pay-roll tax upon employers, with certain exceptions, but allowed a credit up to ninety per cent of the Federal pay-roll tax to employers on account of contributions paid for State unemployment insurance. On its part the State of New York has levied a pay-roll tax upon employers measured by a percentage of the pay-roll and assessed upon all employers generally without regard to the nature of employment, with certain exceptions not here material (Labor Law, art. 18, §§ 515, 516). Neither the National nor the State government contributes anything to the fund. The moneys collected by means of this tax are used for the relief of the unemployed, concededly an object within the powers of the State. (Carmichael v. Southern Coal & Coke Co., 301 U. S. 495 .)
This tax is an excise based upon the exercise of the privilege of employing individuals. (Steward Machine Co. v. Davis, 301 U. S. 548 , 578-583; Carmichael v. Southern Coal & Coke Co., supra; Patton v. Brady, 184 U. S. 608 .) The obligations of the employer under this law are not to his employees but to the State. Likewise, claimants of benefits assert their rights against the State and not against the employer. The employer’s duty to pay contributions and the employee’s right to receive benefits are independent of each other. The employer must continue to pay the tax although none of his employees ever becomes entitled to benefits through lack of employment; the employee has a right to receive benefits upon becoming unemployed although Ms employer has failed to contribute.
A mere statement of this State law demonstrates that it does not modify or attempt to modify, alter or supplement the rights and liabilities of the parties to any maritime contract, nor does it
The power to levy such an excise tax and to use the funds thus raised for local purposes is a sovereign power reserved to the States, of which they were not deprived by the Constitution of the United States. In Carmichael v. Southern Coal & Coke Co., Mr. Justice Stone (now chief justice) said: “ Taxes * * * may likewise be laid on the exercise of personal rights and privileges. As has been pointed out by the opinion in the Chas. C. Steward Machine Co. case, such levies, including taxes on the exercise of the right to employ or to be employed, were known in England and the Colonies before the adoption of the Constitution, and must be taken to be embraced within the wide range of choice of subjects of taxation, which was an attribute of the sovereign power of the States at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, and which was reserved to them by that instrument.” (p. 508.)
It is contended, however, that the State may not thus exercise its reserved powers of taxation because it involves a conflict with paramount powers vested in the Federal government in two respects; first, the State law is alleged to interfere with and burden maritime commerce in its national and international aspects as to which Congress alone has power to legislate; second, the State law is also alleged to contravene the essential purposes of and to work prejudice to characteristic features of the maritime law, and to interfere with its proper harmony and uniformity in its interstate and international relations.
The paramount power of Congress to legislate in the field of maritime law is implied from the grant to the Federal courts in
In addition, by section 1606, subd. (a) of the Federal Tax Act, the Congress has declared that state unemployment insurance laws may be applied to interstate commerce. And in Perkins v. Pennsylvania, 314 U. S. 586 ; affg., 342 Penn. St. 529 ) the Supreme Court has held that there is no constitutional obstacle under the commerce clause to the application of the Pennsylvania unemployment insurance law to those employed in interstate commerce. This would seem to be a conclusive determination that unemployment among those engaged in interstate commerce in general is a matter of local concern as to which no uniform national legislation is needed and in which field, therefore, the states may constitutionally legislate.
As to the second objection noted above and based upon the limitations upon state legislation stated in Southern Pacific Co. v. Jensen ( 244 U. S. 205 ) it would seem to be a sufficient answer to repeat that the enactment in question is a taxing statute designed to raise funds for a state purpose. It does not, therefore, attempt to alter the contract of employment between master and servant or to change the rights and remedies enforceable in admiralty as incidental to that relationship. It does not create any new rights or liabilities between the parties. Nothing contained therein would cause a court of admiralty to alter in any respect the body of law which it applies to the cases pending before it.
That a state may, within prescribed limits, enter into the field of maritime law and add to or modify remedies enforceable in admiralty was conceded by Mr. Justice McReynolds in the Jensen case. In Just v. Chambers ( 312 U. S. 383 ) a statute of the State of Florida, providing that a cause of action for personal
Respondents point to a line of authorities (Southern Pacific v. Jensen, supra; Knickerbocker Ice Co. v. Stewart, 253 U. S. 149 ; Western Fuel Co. v. Garcia, 257 U. S. 233 ; Grant Smith-Porter Ship Co. v. Rohde, 257 U. S. 469 ) holding workmen’s compensation statutes invalid as interfering with the characteristic features and essential uniformity of admiralty law. These cases all rest upon the principle that the workmen’s compensation laws set aside the common law rules respecting the rights and liabilities of employer and employee and substituted new rules for determining such rights and liabilities. These statutes become a part of the contract and thereby directly affect the rights and duties between the parties. As was said by this court in Matter of Doey v. Howland Co. ( 224 N. Y. 30 , 36): “An award under the Workmen’s Compensation Law is not made on the theory that a tort has been committed; on the contrary, it is upon the theory that the statute giving the commission power to make an award is read into and becomes a part of the contract. (Matter of Post v. Burger & Gohlke, 216 N. Y. 544 .) The contract of employment, by virtue of the statute, contains an implied provision that the employer, if the employee be injured, will pay to him a certain sum to compensate for injuries sustained, or if death results, a certain sum to dependents.”
A clear_ distinction between these cases and that of the unemployment insurance law is that the latter does not in any way operate upon the contract of employment or interfere with maritime and admiralty jurisdiction. The payment of an excise tax upon the privilege of employing others can no more be considered an unwarranted intrusion by the states into admiralty jurisdiction than can numerous other state taxes previously upheld; for instance,franchise taxes upon towing companies (People ex rel. Cornell Steam
It follows that there is no constitutional objection to coverage of maritime employments by the Unemployment Insurance Act of New York State.
We are thus brought to the second question, namely, whether by virtue of the provisions of section 1607 (subd. c) (par. 4) of the Internal Revenue Code (U. S. Code, tit. 26) the officers and members of the crew of a vessel on the navigable waters of the United States have been specifically excluded by Congress from coverage by state laws. We may assume that Congress has the constitutional right under the admiralty clause of the Federal Constitution, to .exclude maritime employments from coverage by state unemployment insurance.
In other words does the fact that the Federal Act in the case at bar exempts from its operation the officers and crews of vessels on navigable waters prevent the states from covering maritime employment in the unemployment insurance laws which they have enacted?
From the nature of the independent power reserved to the states of taxing for their own support and to promote the general welfare of their inhabitants, there has been developed the principle that it will not be presumed that Congress intended to exclude the reserved powers of the state by virtue of paramount powers vested in Congress by the Federal Constitution unless an actual conflict exists between Federal and State legislation. In Savage v. Jones ( 225 U. S. 501 ) the court lays down this principle (at p. 533): “ But the intent to supersede the exercise by the State of its police power as to matters not covered by the Federal legislation is not to be inferred from the mere fact that Congress has seen fit to circumscribe its regulation and to occupy a limited field. •In other words, such intent is not to be implied unless the act of Congress fairly interpreted is in actual conflict with the law of the State.”
The Federal statute, of course, is not an unemployment insurance law. It is a mere taxing statute but contains a provision allowing ninety per cent of contributions exacted thereunder to be credited by employers against contributions paid under certified state systems. This credit arrangement was designed to give the states an incentive to enact their own unemployment insurance laws and to protect those states which enacted such laws against being put at a competitive disadvantage as against other states which might fail to take such action. Congress evidently believed that these objects could be accomplished by taking only certain kinds of employment while exempting other kinds. The states in creating their unemployment systems, on the other hand, had different objectives in view in canvassing the kinds of employment to be covered or excluded under their statutes. Their problem was to decide what types of employment seriously required the protection of an unemployment compensation law and what types could practically be included within such a system. Whatever types of employment the Congress might exclude, the states might exempt wholly different types upon the ground that employees in these categories did not require such protection or else that it would be impracticable or impolitic to furnish them with such protection. There is, therefore, no necessary similarity as to the types of employment either covered or exempted by the Federal and state statutes respectively.
The legislative history and the judicial interpretation of the Federal statute amply demonstrate that it was not intended thereby to strait-jacket the states in the. enactment of their own unemployment insurance laws. (See Senate Report, No. 628, Cal. No. 661, 74th Congress, p. 14; Steward Machine Co. v. Davis, swpra, at pp. 593, 594.) The conclusion is inescapable that Congress intended to leave to the states the widest possible latitude in setting up their unemployment compensation systems both as to the kind and extent of coverage provided. This broad policy may not be overriden by the exemptions contained in section 1607 (subd. c) (par. 4).
It follows that in the cases of the claimants, Cassaretakis and Bergen, the orders of the Appellate Division should be reversed and the determination of the Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board affirmed; in the cases involving Sheredos, Knowlson, Schein and Smith, the orders of the Appellate Division and the determination of the Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board should be reversed and the cases remitted to such Appeal Board for proceedings in accordance with this opinion, all with costs in this court and in the Appellate Division.
Lehman, Ch. J., Lougi-iran, Rippey, Lewis, Conway and Desmond, JJ., concur.
Ordered accordingly. (See 289 N. Y. 838 , 839.)
Cases cited
- New York Central Railroad Co. v. White 243 U. S. 188 p. 121
- Claim of Doey v. Clarence P. Howland Co. 224 N. Y. 30 at 36 p. 121, p. 123, p. 129
- Washington v. W. C. Dawson & Co. 264 U. S. 219 p. 121, p. 122, p. 123, p. 124
- Steward Machine Co. v. Davis 301 U. S. 548 at 578-583 p. 121, p. 126
- Carmichael v. Southern Coal & Coke Co. 301 U. S. 495 p. 121, p. 126
- Helvering v. Davis 301 U. S. 619 p. 121
- Barwise v. Sheppard 299 U. S. 33 p. 121
- Educational Films Corp. of America v. Ward 282 U. S. 379 p. 121
- W. H. H. Chamberlin, Inc. v. Andrews 271 N. Y. 1 p. 121
- Lawrence v. State Tax Commission 286 U. S. 276 p. 121
- Gibbons v. Ogden 9 Wheat. 1 p. 121
- Hump Hairpin Manufacturing Co. v. Emmerson 258 U. S. 290 p. 121
- Western Union Telegraph Co. v. Attorney General of Commonwealth 125 U. S. 530 p. 121, p. 128
- Knowlton v. Moore 178 U. S. 41 p. 121
- New York ex rel. Cornell Steamboat Co. v. Sohmer 235 U. S. 549 p. 121, p. 130
- Alward v. Johnson 282 U. S. 509 p. 121
- Sands v. Manistee River Improvement Co. 123 U. S. 288 p. 121, p. 122, p. 130
- Trinityfarm Construction Co. v. Grosjean 291 U. S. 466 p. 121
- Susquehanna Power Co. v. State Tax Commission 283 U. S. 291 p. 121
- United States v. Bevans 3 Wheat. 336 p. 121
- The Blackheath 195 U. S. 361 p. 122
- Detroit Trust Co. v. The Thomas Barlum 293 U. S. 21 p. 122
- Southern Pacific Co. v. Jensen 244 U. S. 205 p. 122, p. 123, p. 124, p. 128
- El Paso & Northeastern Railway Co. v. Gutierrez 215 U. S. 87 p. 122
- Clark v. Poor 274 U. S. 554 p. 122
- Darweger v. Staats 267 N. Y. 290 p. 122
- Red Cross Line v. Atlantic Fruit Co. 264 U. S. 109 p. 122
- Ex parte Easton 95 U. S. 68 p. 122
- Knickerbocker Ice Co. v. Stewart 253 U. S. 149 p. 122, p. 123, p. 124, p. 129
- Simpson v. Shepard 230 U. S. 352 p. 122, p. 123
- Cooley v. Board of Wardens 12 How. 299 p. 122
- Anderson v. Pacific Coast Steamship Co. 225 U. S. 187 p. 122
- Manigault v. Springs 199 U. S. 473 p. 122
- Transportation Co. v. Parkersburg 107 U. S. 691 p. 122
- The Hamilton 207 U. S. 398 p. 122
- Savage v. Jones 225 U. S. 501 p. 122, p. 130
- Northern Coal & Dock Co. v. Strand 278 U. S. 142 p. 122
- Parker v. Motor Boat Sales, Inc. 314 U. S. 244 p. 122
- Helvering v. Bliss 293 U. S. 144 p. 122
- Zellerbach Paper Co. v. Helvering 293 U. S. 172 p. 122
- Old Mission Portland Cement Co. v. Helvering 293 U. S. 289 p. 122
- Hartley v. Commissioner 295 U. S. 216 p. 122
- Brewster v. Gage 280 U. S. 327 p. 122
- Moran v. New Orleans 112 U. S. 69 p. 122
- Harman v. Chicago 147 U. S. 396 p. 122
- Butler v. Boston & Savannah Steamship Co. 130 U. S. 527 p. 122
- Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. v. Kierejewski 261 U. S. 479 p. 122
- Just v. Chambers 312 U. S. 383 p. 123, p. 128
- Claim of Keator v. Rock Plaster Manufacturing Co. 224 N. Y. 540 p. 123
- Claim of Reinhardt v. Newport Flying Service Corp. 232 N. Y. 115 p. 123
- Mountain Timber Co. v. Washington 243 U. S. 219 p. 123
- Robins Dry Dock & Repair Co. v. Dahl 266 U. S. 449 p. 123
- Buckstaff Bath House Co. v. McKinley 308 U. S. 358 p. 123
- Robertson v. Baldwin 165 U. S. 275 p. 123
- In re Cooper 22 N. Y. 67 p. 123
- Gould v. Gould 245 U. S. 151 p. 123
- In re the Estate of Vanderbilt 281 N. Y. 297 p. 123
- Dun & Bradstreet, Inc. v. City of New York 276 N. Y. 198 p. 123
- Puget Sound Stevedoring Co. v. State Tax Commission 302 U. S. 90 p. 123
- South Chicago Coal & Dock Co. v. Bassett 309 U. S. 251 at 259 p. 123, p. 125
- In re the Claim of Morton 284 N. Y. 167 p. 125
- Patton v. Brady 184 U. S. 608 p. 126
- Old Dominion Steamship Co. v. Virginia 198 U. S. 299 at 305 p. 128
- Western Fuel Co. v. Garcia 257 U. S. 233 p. 129
- Grant Smith-Porter Ship Co. v. Rohde 257 U. S. 469 p. 129
- Claim of Post v. Burger & Gohlke 216 N. Y. 544 p. 129
- Transportation Co. v. Wheeling 99 U. S. 273 p. 130
- Rubinfeld v. Rubinfeld 289 N. Y. 838 at 839 p. 132