to receive a sum amounting to not more than $300 as compensation for injuries, or as a distributive share by virtue of this act, the father, mother, or natural guardian upon whom such infant or minor shall be dependent for support shall be authorized and empowered to receive and receipt for such moneys to the same extent as a guardian of the person and property of such infant or minor duly appointed by proper court, and the release or discharge of such father, mother, or natural guardian shall be full and complete discharge of all claims or demands of such infant or minor thereunder.

(c) Whenever any payment of over $300 is made to a minor under eighteen years of age, or to a dependent child over the age of eighteen years, the same shall be made to some suitable person or corporation appointed by the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia as a trustee, and the receipt of such trustee shall acquit the employer.

(d) Payment of death benefits by an employer in good faith to a dependent subsequent in right to another or other dependents shall protect and discharge the employer, unless and until such dependent or dependents prior in right shall have given him notice of his or their claim. In case the employer is in doubt as to the respective rights of rival claimants he may apply to the compensation commissioner to decide between them.

SEC. 30. (a) If an injured employee is mentally incompetent or is under eighteen years of age at the time when any right or privilege accrues to him under this act, his guardian, trustee, or committee may in his behalf claim and exercise such right or privilege. And no limitation of time provided in this act for the giving of notice or making claim under this act shall run against any person who is mentally incompetent, or a minor dependent, so long as he has no guardian, trustee, or committee.

(b) A minor working at an age legally permitted under the laws of the District of Columbia shall be deemed sui juris for the purposes of this act, and no other person shall have any cause of action or right to compensation for any injury to such minor employee unless otherwise herein provided.

SEC. 31. (1) The disablement of an employee from an occupational disease hereinafter enumerated shall be treated as the happening of an accident within the meaning of this act and the procedure and practice provided in this act shall apply to all proceedings under this section except as in this section otherwise expressly provided.

(2) If an employee is disabled or dies and his disability or death is caused by one of the diseases herein enumerated and his disease is due to the nature of his employment and was contracted therein within twelve months previous to the date of disablement, he or his dependents shall be entitled to compensation for his death or disablement in accordance with the provisions of this act, except as in this section stated: Provided, however, That if it shall be determined that such employce is able to earn wages at another occupation which shall be neither unhealthful nor injurious, and such wages do not equal his full wages prior to the date of his disablement, the compensation payable shall be a percentage of full compensation proportionate to the reduction in his earning capacity.

(3) For the purposes of this section the date of disablement shall be such date as the compensation commissioner may determine.

(4) The compensation commissioner shall appoint one or more physicians whose duty it shall be to examine any claimant under this section and to make report in such form as the commissioner may require.

(5) If an employee, at the time of his employment, willfully and falsely represents in writing that he has not previously suffered from the disease which is the cause of disability or death, no compensation shall be payable.

"dis

(6) In this section "disability means the state of being disabled from earning full wages at the work at which the employee was last employed; and ablement" means the act of becoming so disabled.

(7) The following are occupational diseases within the meaning and effect of this section: Anthrax; lead poisoning; zinc poisoning; mercury poisoning; phosphorous poisoning; arsenic poisoning; poisoning by wood alcohol; poisoning by nitro, hydro, and amido derivatives of benezene (dinitrobenzol, anilin, and others); poisoning by carbon bisulphide; poisoning by nitrous fumes; poisoning by nickel carbonyl; dope poisoning (poisoning by tetrachlormethane or any substance used as or in conjunction with a solvent for acetate of cellulose); poisoning by formaldehyde and its preparations; chrome ulceration ; epitheliomatous cancer or ulceration of the skin or of the corneal surface of the eye, due to tar, pitch, bitumen, mineral oil or paraffin, or any compound,

product, or residue of any of these substances; glanders; compressed air illness; miners' diseases, including only celluliti, bursitis, ankylostomiasis, tenosynovitis, and nystagmus; cataract in glassworkers.

SEC. 32. The employer shall secure the entire compensation to his employees in one or more of the following ways:

1. By insuring and keeping insured the payment of such compensation in any insurance carrier or carriers authorized to transact the business of employers' liability or workmen's compensation insurance in the District of Columbia.

(2) By furnishing satisfactory proof to the compensation commissioner of his financial ability to pay such compensation himself, in which case the commissioner may, at any time and from time to time in his discretion, require the deposit with the commissioner of securities such as are accepted by the equity courts of the District of Columbia for the investment of trust funds, and in an amount or amounts to be determined by the commissioner, to secure the liability of the employer to pay the compensation specified in this act; and in order to be informed as to the continued financial responsibility of any such employer the commissioner may require reports from him annually, or at any such other times as the commissioner may deem necessary or advisable, and may examine such employer under oath or make such other examination of his business as the commissioner may determine. If he should fail to furnish such satisfactory proof, or give bond, or deposit such securities, as required by the commissioner, or if he should at any time fail to render satisfactory reports to the commissioner or otherwise satisfy the commissioner of his continued financial ability to pay the compensation himself, he shall be subject to the provisions of the first paragraph of this section.

SEC. 33. (a) Every employer subject to the provisions of this act shall, within thirty days after this act takes effect, file with the compensation commissioner, in form prescribed by him, and thereafter annually and whenever the compensation commissioner may require, evidence of his compliance with the provisions of section 32 and all others relating thereto. If any such employer refuses or neglects to comply with the provisions of this paragraph, he shall be punished by a fine of 10 cents for each employee at the time of the insurance becoming due, but not less than $1 nor more than $50 for each day of such refusal or neglect, and until the same ceases, and he shall be liable during continuance of such refusal or neglect to an employee either for compensation under this act or at law, in the same manner as if he were not subject to this act, except that in such action at law he shall not be permitted to defend upon any or all of the following grounds: (1) That the employee was negligent, (2) that the injury was caused by the negligence of a fellow employee, (3) that the employee had assumed the risk of injury.

If

(b) Every employer who has complied with the provisions of section 32 shall post and maintain in a conspicuous place in and about each of his places of business or other places where his employees subject to this act are employed a typewritten or printed notice, in such form as the compensation commissioner may prescribe, stating the facts of compliance with such provisions, and giving the name and address of his insurer, if he be insured. any employer neglects or refuses to comply with the provisions of this paragraph, he shall be liable to a penalty of 10 cents per day for each employee affected, but not less than $1 in any event: Provided, however, That the compensation commissioner for good cause shown, may remit such penalty, in whole or in part.

SEC. 34. Whenever an employer has complied with the provisions of section 32, relating to self-insurance, the compensation commissioner shall issue to such employer a certificate which shall remain in force for a period fixed by the commissioner, but the commissioner may upon at least thirty days' notice and hearing to the employer revoke the certificate upon satisfactory evidence for such revocation having been presented. At any time after such revocation the commissioner may grant a new certificate to the employer upon his petition.

SEC. 35. (a) All policies or contracts insuring the payment of compensation under this act must contain a clause to the effect that as between the employer and the insurer notice to or knowledge of the occurrence of the injury on the part of the insured employer shall be deemed notice or knowledge, as the case may be, on the part of the insurer; that jurisdiction of the insured for the purposes of this act shall be jurisdiction of the insurer; and

that the insurer shall in all things be bound by and subject to the awards, judgments, or decrees rendered against such insured employer.

(b) No policy or contract of insurance against liability arising under this act shall be issued unless it contains the agreement of the insurer that it will promptly pay to the person entitled to same all benefits conferred by this act and all installments of the compensation that may be awarded or agreed upon and that the obligation shall not be affected by any default of the insured after the injury or by any default in giving notice required by such policy or otherwise. Such agreement shall be construed to be a direct promise by the insurer to the person entitled to compensation enforceable in his name.

(c) Every policy or contract for the insurance of the compensation herein provided or against liability therefor shall be deemed to be made subject to the provision of this act. No corporation, association, or organization shall enter into any such policy of insurance unless its form shall have been approved by the superintendent of insurance.

(d) This section shall not apply to policies of insurance against loss from explosion of boilers or flywheels or other similar single catastrophe hazards. SEC. 36. No policy or contract of insurance against liability arising under this act shall be canceled within the time limited in such policy or contract for its expiration until at least ten days after notice of intention to cancel such policy or contract, on a date specified in such notice, shall be filed in the office of the compensation commissioner and also served on the employer. Such notice shall be served on the employer by delivering it to him or by sending it by mail, by registered letter, addressed to the employer at his or its last known place of residence: Provided, That if the employer be a partnership, then such notice may be so given to any one of the partners, and if the employer be a corporation, then the notice may be given to any agent or officer of the corpora tion upon whom legal process may be served.

SEC. 37. (a) That rates charged by all carriers of insurance writing insurance against the liability for compensation under this act shall be fair reasonable, and adequate, and all risks of the same kind and degree of hazards shall be written at the same rate by the same carrier, subject to such rules as the superintendent of insurance may prescribe. The basic rates may be modified in accordance with a plan of merit or schedule rating. No policy of insurance against liability for compensation under this act shall be valid until the rate thereof has been approved by the superintendent of insurance, nor shall any such carrier of insurance write any such policy or contract until its basic and merit rating schedules have been filed with, approved, and not subsequently disapproved by the superintendent of insurance.

(b) Each such insurance carrier shall report to the superintendent of insurance, in accordance with such reasonable rules as the superintnedent of insurance may at any time prescribe, for the purpose of determining the solvency of the carrier and the adequacy of its rates; for such purpose the superintendent of insurance may inspect the books and records of such insurance carrier, and examine its agents, officers, and directors under oath.

(c) Any person or persons who shall in the District of Columbia act or assume to act as agent for any insurance carrier whose authority to do business in such District has been suspended while such suspension remains in force, or who shall willfully make a false or faudulent statement of the business or condition of any such insurance carrier, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be punished by a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $1,000, or by imprisonment for not more than one year, or both such fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the jury.

(d) Whenever by this act or the terms of any policy contract any officer is required to give any notice to an insurance carrier, the same may be given by delivery or by mailing by registered letter, properly addressed and stamped, to the principal office or chief agent of such insurance carrier within the District of Columbia, or to its home office, or to the secretary, general agent, or chief officer thereof in the United States.

SEC. 38. Notice of an accident for which any compensation is payable under this act must be given to the employer as soon as practicable and not later than thirty days after the accident. Such notice may be in writing and contain the name and address of the employee and state in ordinary language the time, place, nature, and cause of the injury, and be signed by him or by a person on his behalf. The failure to give such notice, unless excused by the compensation commissioner upon proof either that notice for some sufficient

reason could not have been given within such time or that the insurance carrier or employer, as the case may be, has not been prejudiced thereby, or that the employer or insurance carrier or the employer's representative in charge at the place where the accident occurred had timely knowledge of the accident, shall be a bar to any claim under this act: Provided, however, That such bar shall be deemed waived unless the objection is raised on the first hearing at which the employer and insurance carrier, upon reasonable notice, have full opportunity to appear and be heard.

Whenever an accident occurs to any employee which results in absence from work for longer than the remainder of the day or shift upon which the acci dent occurred it shall be the duty of the employer to at once report such accident and the injury resulting therefrom to the compensation commissioner within ten days thereafter or after knowledge thereof. Such report shall state (a) the time, cause, and nature of the accident, and the nature and probable duration of the injury resulting therefrom; (b) whether the accident arose out of or in the course of the injured person's employment; (c) any other matters the rules and regulations of the commissioner may prescribe. The employer and insurance carrier shall not be bound by any statement in such report shown to have been unintentionally erroneous.

SEC. 39. After any injury and so long as he claims compensation, the employee, if so requested by his employer or ordered by the compensation commissioner, shall submit himself to examination, at reasonable times and places, by a duly qualified physician or surgeon designated and paid by the employer or the compensation commissioner. The employee shall have the right to have present at such examination any duly qualified physician or surgeon provided and paid by him. No fact communicated to, or otherwise learned by any physician or surgeon who may have attended or examined the employee, or who may have been present at any examination, shall be privileged, either in hearings provided for by this act or in any action at law brought to recover damages against an employer for an injury subject to the provisions of this act. If the employee refuses to submit himself to or in any way obstructs such examination requested by and provided for by the employer, his right to compensation and his right to take or prosecute any proceedings under this act shall be suspended until such refusal or obstruction ceases, and no compensation shall at any time be payable for the period of suspension, unless in the opinion of the compensation commissioner the circumstances justify the refusal or obstruction. The employer, or the compensation commissioner, shall have the right in any case of death to require an autopsy at the expense of the party requesting the same.

SEC. 40. All questions arising under this act, if not settled by agreement of the parties interested therein, with the approval of the compensation commissioner, shall be determined by the commissioner except as otherwise herein provided. No claim for compensation under this act shall be valid unless application be made to the commissioner within two years after the accident, or, if payments have been made, within two years after the last payment, or, in the case of death, within two years after the date of death.

SEC. 41. If, after five days from the date of the accident, or at any time in case of death, the employer and the injured employee or his dependents reach an agreement in regard to compensation under this act, a memorandum of the agreement in the form prescribed by the compensation commissioner shall be filed with the commissioner; otherwise such agreement shall be voidable by the employee or his dependents.

If approved by the commissioner, thereupon the memorandum shall for all purposes be treated as an award by the commissioner and shall be enforceable by the court's decree, as hereinafter specified.

SEO. 42. If the employer and the injured employee or his dependents fail to reach an agreement in regard to compensation under this Act, or if they have reached such an agreement which has been signed and filed with the compensation commissioner and compensation has been paid or is due in accordance therewith, and the parties thereto then disagree as to the continuance of any payment under such agreement, either party may make application to the compensation commissioner for a hearing in regard to the matters at issue and for a ruling thereon.

Immediately after such application has been received the commissioner shall set the date for a hearing, which shall be held as soon as practicable, and shall notify the parties at issue of the time and place of such hearing.

The compensation commissioner or a deputy commissioner shall hear the parties at issue and their representatives and witnesses, and shall determine the dispute in a summary manner. The award, together with a statement of the findings of fact, rulings of law, and other matters pertinent to the questions at issue, shall be filed with the record of the proceedings, and a copy of the award shall immediately be sent to the parties in dispute.

SEC. 43. At any time while payments are being made or within two years after the last payment, on the ground of change in condition, or at any time within two years after its date, on the ground of manifest error of law or fact, the compensation commissioner may review an award, and on such review may make an award ending, diminishing, or increasing the compensation previously awarded, or awarding compensation where no compensation was previously awarded, subject to the maximum and minimum provided in this act, and shall immediately send to the parties a copy of the award. No such review shall affect such award as regards any moneys paid.

SEC. 44. Any employer, employee, dependent, or person feeling aggrieved by any decision or award of the compensation commissioner affecting his interests under this act may have the same reviewed by a proceeding in the nature of an appeal and initiated in the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, and the court shall determine whether the commissioner has justly considered all the facts concerning injury, whether he has exceeded the powers granted him by the act, and whether he has misconstrued the law and facts applicable in the case decided. If the court shall determine that the commissioner has acted within his powers and has correctly construed the law and facts, the decision of the commissioner shall be confirmed, otherwise it shall be reversed or modified. The proceedings in every such an appeal shall be informal and summary, but full opportunity to be heard shall be had before judgment is pronounced. No such appeal shall be entertained unless notice of appeal shall have been served personally upon the commissioner within thirty days following the rendition of the decision or award appealed from. An appeal shall not be a stay. If the decision or award of the commissioner shall be changed or modified, the practice prevailing in civil cases as to the payment of costs and the fees of medical and other witnesses shall apply. Appeal shall lie from the judgment of the Supreme Court to the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia, as in other civil cases, and such appeal shall have precedence over all cases except criminal cases.

The corporation counsel for the District of Columbia shall be the legal adviser of the commissioner, and shall represent him in all proceedings whenever so requested by the commissioner. In all court proceedings under or pursuant to this act, the decision of the commissioner shall be prima facie correct, and the burden of proof shall be upon the party attacking the same.

SEC. 45. Any party in interest may file in the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia a certified copy of an agreement approved by the compensation commissioner, or of an order or decision of the commissioner, or of an award of the commissioner unappealed from, or of an award of the commissioner affirmed upon appeal, whereupon said court, upon proof of default in payment or that the security for payment is doubtful, shall render a decree in accordance therewith and notify the parties. Such decree shall have the same effect, and all proceedings in relation thereto shall thereafter be the same, as though said decree had been rendered in a suit duly heard and determined by said court.

SEC. 46. If the compensation commissioner or the court before which any proceedings for compensation or concerning an award of compensation have been brought, under this act, determines that such proceedings have not been so brought upon reasonable ground, it shall assess the whole cost of the proceeding upon the party who has so brought them.

Claims for legal services in connection with any claims arising under this act and claims for services or treatment rendered or supplies furnished pursuant to section 20 of this act, shall not be enforceable unless approved by the compensation commissioner.

If so approved, such claim or claims, if against the injured employee or a dependent, shall become a lien upon the compensation awarded, but shall be paid therefrom only in the manner fixed by the commissioner.

SEC. 47. If for the purpose of obtaining any benefit or payment under the provisions of this act, either for himself or any other person, or for the purpose of obtaining an agreement for an inadequate settlement of rights under this act, any person willfully makes a false statement or representation, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

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