## Facts

- Felix Meo worked for Commercial Can Corporation as plant superintendent in charge of production at the Newark plant, with executive and physical duties.
- Meo was on call 24 hours a day to keep operations running uninterrupted.
- After a strike began at the Newark plant, the company president directed Meo to keep the Newark operation going, including interviewing and hiring replacement workers.
- The strike involved active, continuous, and disorderly picketing and was described as violent.
- The company provided Meo a car for travel to and from the plant; during the strike, his son-in-law sometimes accompanied him.
- Meo also conducted strike-related work from his home, including hiring replacement workers and holding meetings to plan work schedules.
- Meo suffered injuries in an accident connected to these strike-related circumstances.
- The Workmen’s Compensation Division awarded benefits; the County Court affirmed; the employer appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether Meo’s accident and resulting injuries arose out of and in the course of his employment under New Jersey workers’ compensation law, given his on-call status, strike-related duties, employer-provided transportation, and home-based work.
2. Whether the fact-finders’ determination of the extent of Meo’s disability was supported by the record.

## Decision

- The Appellate Division affirmed the County Court judgment, which had affirmed the Workmen’s Compensation Division award.
- The court held the record supported that Meo’s injury arose out of and in the course of employment.
- The court declined to disturb the disability findings, concluding they were supported by the evidence.

## Legal Principles

- For supervisory employees subject to continuous on-call responsibility, the “course of employment” may include authorized activities outside the plant premises when undertaken to carry out employer directives during operational emergencies, including labor disputes.
- Injuries linked to risks created or intensified by a violent strike may “arise out of” employment when the employee’s assigned duties require functioning within that strike context.
- Employer-provided transportation, when connected to the employee’s operational responsibilities, supports treating related travel as work-connected rather than purely personal commuting.
- Appellate review generally defers to concurrent administrative and trial-level findings on disability when supported by the record.

## Conclusion

The court upheld workers’ compensation benefits for a plant superintendent injured amid strike-related duties, concluding the injury was work-connected and that the disability determination was adequately supported by the evidence.


Meo v. Commercial Can Corp., 80 N.J. Super. 58, 192 A.2d 854 (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. 1963)