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Younger v. City and County of Denver5/6/1991
made the astute observation that if it were to award compensation to an applicant injured during a pre-employment physical agility test, then "every person who makes application to an employer for a job, fills out an application and takes any kind of test is ipso facto an employe." Dykes, 47 Or. App. at , 613 P.2d at 1107.
In our view, adherence to the contractual aspect of the employee-employer relationship, as advocated by the Boyd and Sellers courts, is more in line with previous Colorado case law. In State Compensation Insurance Fund v. Industrial Commission, 135 Colo. 570, 314 P.2d 288 (1957), this court specifically stated that workers' compensation benefits "arise out of a contractual relationship between employer and employee." Id. at 571, 314 P.2d at 289. In that case, this court denied death benefits to a widow whose husband incurred a fatal injury as a football player in a college game. Although the deceased received an athletic scholarship and had arranged the hours of his part-time employment with the college to accommodate football practice, the court found no contractual obligation between the school and the deceased; the deceased was not obligated to play football to keep his job with the college. This court thus concluded that without a contractual obligation, an employer-employee relationship did not exist which would support a claim for workers' compensation benefits. Id. at 572, 314 P.2d at 289.
Unlike the cases of Venezian Lamb and Laeng relied on by Younger, this court has held that, despite the liberal construction afforded to workers' compensation laws, " contract of hire is subject to the same rules as other contracts." Denver Truck Exch. v. Perryman, 134 Colo. 586, 593, 307 P.2d 805, 810 (1957). Thus, in order to award benefits, we must determine whether a mutual agreement existed between the parties that created a mutual obligation. See id. at 592, 307 P.2d at 810; Hall v. State Compensation Ins. Fund, 154 Colo. 47, 50, 387 P.2d 899, 901 (1963).
The facts in the present case show that Younger voluntarily applied for an entry-level position as a police officer. She was neither encouraged to pursue this position nor was she paid for her participation in the application process. Moreover, had Younger successfully completed the physical agility test, she would still have been required to pass background checks, a polygraph test, and a medical examination merely to qualify for the pool of candidates from which the final selection of police officers would be made. In fact, the record shows that after the Civil Service Commission conducts the necessary tests, the Manager of Safety has discretion, within limits, to select which of the qualified applicants will be offered employment. Hence, successful completion of the application process does not guarantee employment as a police officer.
Given this set of facts, we find that there was no mutual agreement between the Commission and Younger sufficient to create an employer-employee relationship that would justify an award of workers' compensation benefits. At no time during the application process was Younger promised employment as a police officer, even if she passed all of the requisite tests.
We therefore find that the denial of workers' compensation benefits to Younger was appropriate, and accordingly affirm the judgment of the court of appeals.
JUDGMENT AFFIRMED.
Disposition
JUDGMENT AFFIRMED.
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