Young v. . Whitehall Co.

As originally adopted in 1929, the North Carolina Workmen’s Compensation Act provided merely for compensation for the death or disability of a workman resulting from injury by accident arising out of and in the course of his employment. G. S., 97-2. In 1935, an amendment broadened the scope of the Act by making compensable twenty-five designated occupational diseases, including asbestosis and silicosis. G. S., 97-53.

In thus extending the coverage of the statute, the Legislature expressly decreed that disablement or death of a workman from a designated occupational disease “shall be treated as…