## Facts

- Adam P. Carey, age 16, worked part-time for Kernwood Country Club.
- While working in September 2000, Carey was fatally injured operating a golf cart on the club’s premises.
- The golf cart was used for work purposes and was operated only on the club’s private property, not on public ways.
- Carey’s parents, with whom he lived, sought workers’ compensation dependency benefits.
- They also sought double compensation under G. L. c. 152, § 28, alleging the employer committed serious and willful misconduct by requiring a minor to operate a “motor vehicle” in violation of G. L. c. 149, § 62.

## Issues

1. Whether a golf cart operated solely on an employer’s private property is a “motor vehicle” under G. L. c. 149, § 62 for child-labor purposes.
2. Whether a violation of G. L. c. 149, § 62 constitutes “serious and willful misconduct” supporting double compensation under G. L. c. 152, § 28.
3. Whether the parents’ dependency benefits could be limited to the date the employee would have turned 18 absent proof of continued dependency beyond that age.

## Decision

- The Appeals Court held that the golf cart was a “motor vehicle” within the meaning of G. L. c. 149, § 62, even though it was operated only on private property.
- The court ruled that the employer’s violation of § 62 satisfied the serious and willful misconduct requirement of G. L. c. 152, § 28, entitling the parents to double compensation.
- The court affirmed the administrative judge’s calculation of the employee’s average weekly wage.
- The matter was remanded for further proceedings to implement the appellate rulings, including calculation and payment of double compensation and related benefit issues.

## Legal Principles

- G. L. c. 149, § 62 prohibits minors from operating motor vehicles “of any description,” and the prohibition is not limited to vehicles operated on public ways.
- In interpreting § 62, the controlling aim is protection of minors from hazardous work, not regulation of highway driving.
- An employer’s placement of a minor in work expressly barred by the child-labor laws can constitute “serious and willful misconduct” under G. L. c. 152, § 28, supporting an award of double workers’ compensation benefits to dependents.
- Average weekly wage findings, when supported by the administrative record and correctly computed under the statute, will be affirmed on appeal.

## Conclusion

The Appeals Court held that a golf cart qualifies as a “motor vehicle” under Massachusetts child-labor law even when used only on private property, and that employing a minor to operate it can trigger double workers’ compensation benefits as serious and willful misconduct; the case was remanded to implement the enhanced award.


Carey’s Case, 66 Mass. App. Ct. 749, 850 N.E.2d 610 (2006)