SEC. 48. In this act, unless the context otherwise requires―

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(a) 'Employer shall include any individual, firm, association, or corporation, or the receiver or trustee of the same, or the legal representative of a deceased employer, using the service of another for pay. If the employer is insured it shall include his insurer so far as applicable.

(b) "Employee" shall include every person, including a minor, who is employed by another under any lawful contract of service or apprenticeship, written or implied. Any reference to an employee who has been injured shall, where such employee is dead, include a reference to his dependents and other persons to whom compensation may be payable, or, where the employee is a minor or incompetent, to his committee or guardian or next friend.

(c) "Average weekly wages shall mean the earnings of the injured employee, including "overtime in the employment in which he was working at the time of the accident, during the period of fifty-two weeks immediately preceding the date of the accident, dividend of fifty-two; but if the injured employee lost more than seven consecutive calendar days during such period, although not in the same week, then the earnings for the remainder of such fifty-two weeks shall be divided by the number of weeks remaining after the time so lost has been deducted. Where the employment prior to the injury extended over a period of less than fifty-two weeks the method of dividing the earnings during that period by the number of weeks and parts thereof during which the employee earned wages shall be followed: Provided, That results fair and just to both parties will be thereby obtained. Where, by reason of a shortness of time during which the employee has been in the employment of his employer or the casual nature or terms of his employment, it is impracticable to compute the average weekly wages as above defined, regard shall be had to the average weekly amount which during fifty-two weeks previous to the accident was being earned by a person of the same grade and character employed in the same class of employment in the same locality or community.

If the injured employee at the time of the injury is regularly employed at higher wages than formerly during the preceding fifty-two weeks, only such higher wages shall be taken into consideration in computing his average weekly wages. If the injured employee was of such age and experience when injured that, under natural conditions, his wages would be expected to increase, that fact may be taken into consideration in determining his average weekly wages.

But where for exceptional reasons the foregoing would be unfair, either to the employer or employee, such other method of computing average weekly wages may be resorted to as will most nearly approximate the amount which the injured employee would be earning were it not for the injury.

"Earnings" shall include the reasonable value of board, lodging, housing, fuel, and similar advantages which the employee receives from the employer as part of his remuneration; but shall not include payments by the employer to cover special expenses entailed on the employee by his employment. (d) "Injury and .. personal injury" shall mean only injury by accident arising out of and in the course of the employment, and shall not include a disease in any form, except where it results naturally and unavoidably from the accident. They shall include death resulting from an accident within two years thereafter or following continuous disability and resulting from an accident within six years thereafter.

(e) Hernia shall not be deemed an injury by accident arising out of and in the course of the employee's employment, unless it be proven to the satisfaction of the compensation commissioner-first, that there was an injury resulting in hernia; second, that the hernia appeared suddenly; third, that it was accompanied by pain; fourth, that the hernia immediately followed an accident; fifth, that the hernia did not exist prior to the accident for which compensation is claimed.

(f) "Disability" shall mean incapacity for remunerative employment in any suitable occupation.

SEC. 49. The rule that statutes in derogation of the common law are to be strictly construed shall have no application to this act; but this act shall be so interpreted and construed as to effectuate its general purpose.

SEC. 50. If the provisions of this act relative to compensation for injuries to or death of employees become invalid because of any final adjudication, the period intervening between the occurrence of an injury or death, not previously compensated for under this act by lump-sum payment or completed periodical payments, shall not be computed as a part of the time limited by law for the

commencement of any action relating to such injury or death: Provided, That such action be commenced within one year after such final adjudication; but in any such action any sum paid to the employee on account of injury for which the action is prosecuted shall be taken into account.

SEC. 51. The provisions of this act shall not apply to injuries or death, nor to accidents which occurred prior to the taking effect of this act.

SEC. 52. For the purpose of paying the salaries and necessary expenses of the compensation commissioner and his assistants and employees in administering and carrying out the provisions of this act an administrative fund shall be created and maintained in the following manner:

A. Every person, partnership, association, or corporation, whether organized under the laws of the District of Columbia or any other State or county, and every other insurance carrier, insuring employers in the District of Columbia against liability for personal injuries to their employees, or death caused thereby, under the provisions of this act, shall, as hereinafter provided, pay a tax upon the premium received, whether in cash or notes, in the District of Columbia or on account of business done in the District, for such insurance in the District, at the rate of 3 per centum of the amount of such premiums, which tax shall be in lieu of all other taxes on such premiums and which tax shall be assessed and collected as hereinafter provided: Provided, however, That such insurance carriers shall be credited with all canceled or returned premiums, actually refunded during the year on such insurance, and with premiums on reinsurance with companies authorized and licensed to transact business in the District of Columbia, which reinsurance shall be reported by the reinsurer; but no credit shall be allowed for reinsurance in companies not licensed to transact business in the District.

B. Every such insurance carrier shall, for the twelve months ending December 31, 1926, and annually thereafter, make a return verified by the affidavit of its president and secretary, or other chief officers or agents, to the superintendent of insurance, stating the amount of all such premiums and credits during the period covered by such return. Every insurance carrier required to make such return shall file the same with the superintendent of insurance within thirty days after the close of the period covered thereby and shall at the same time pay to the Treasurer of the United States a tax of 3 per centum of its net premiums ascertained as provided in subsection A hereof. Upon receiving such payments the Treasurer of the United States shall place the whole thereof to the credit of the fund for the administration of this act, and shall pay the same out in the manner hereinbefore provided.

C. If any such insurance carrier shall fail or refuse to make the return required by this act, the said superintendent of insurance shall assess the tax against such insurance carrier at the rate herein provided for, on such amount of premiums as he may deem just, and the proceedings thereon shall be the same as if the return had been made.

D. If any such insurance carrier shall withdraw from business in the District of Columbia before the tax shall fall due, as herein provided, or shall fail or neglect to pay such tax, the superintendent of insurance shall at once proceed to collect the same, and he is hereby empowered and authorized to employ such legal process as may be necessary for that purpose; and when so collected he shall pay the same to the Treasurer of the United States. The suit may be brought by the superintendent of insurance, in his official capacity.

E. Every employer carrying his own risk under the provisions of section 32 of this act shall, under oath, report to the commissioner his pay roll subject to the provisions of this act. Such report shall be made in form prescribed by the compensation commissioner and at the time herein provided for premium reports by insurers. The commissioner shall assess against such pay roll a maintenance-fund tax computed by taking 3 per centum of the basic premiums chargeable against the same or almost similar industry or business, taken from the manual insurance rate for compensation then in force in the District of Columbia.

F. The commissioner shall not be authorized to incur expenses or indebtedness during any period, chargeable against the maintenance fund, in excess of the premiums tax payable to such fund for the same period. If it be ascertained that the tax collected for a given period exceeds the total chargeable against the maintenance fund under the provisions of this act, the commissioner may authorize a corresponding credit upon the collections for the succeeding period. SEC. 53. All acts or parts of acts in conflict with this act are hereby repealed to the extent that they conflict with this act and no further.

SEC. 54. This act shall take effect from the date of its passage but its application between employers and employees shall date from and include the 1st day of July, 1929.

SEC. 55. There is hereby authorized to be appropriated out of the taxes collected or to be collected, pursuant to section 650 of "An act to establish a code of law for the District of Columbia," approved March 3, 1901, upon the premium receipts for the year 1928 of insurance companies doing business in such District, the sum of $30.000, which shall become part of the administrative fund created by section 52 of this act, in order to provide for the initial expenses of administration.

[S. 2025, Seventieth Congress, first session]

A BILL Creating the District of Columbia insurance fund for the benefit of employees injured and the dependents of employees killed in employment, providing for the administration of such fund by the United States Employees' Compensation Commission, and authorizing an appropriation therefor

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the prosperity of the District of Columbia depends in a large measure upon the well-being of its wageworkers, and, therefore, for workers injured in employment and their families and dependents sure and certain relief is hereby provided, regardless of questions of fault and to the exclusion of every other remedy, proceeding, or compensation, except as otherwise provided in this act; and to that end all civil actions and civil causes of action for such personal injuries and all jurisdiction of the courts of the District over such causes are hereby abolished, except as in this act provided.

SEC. 2. That wherever used in this act

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Employment" means all private employments.

"Employee' means every person engaged in any employment under any appointment or contract of hire, or apprenticeship, expressed or implied, oral or written, including aliens, and also including minors, whether lawfully or unlawfully employed, but excluding farm laborers and domestic servants where not more than three are employed, and also excluding any person whose employment is casual and not in the course of the trade, business, profession, or occupation of his employer.

"Employer" means every person, partnership, association, and private corporation, including any public-service corporation, and the legal representative of any deceased employer, or the receiver or trustee of a person, partnership, association, or corporation carrying on any employment.

Injury means only an injury sustained in the course of employment, including disease arising out of and in the course of employment and an injury caused by the willful act of a third person directed against an employee because of his employment, but shall not include injuries caused to the employees or by his willful intention to injure himself or to injure another or injuries of which intoxication of the injured employee is the proximate cause. The burden of proof of such intention or such intoxication shall be upon the party asserting it.

This act shall apply (a) to all injuries occurring within the District of Columbia to employees of employers subject to this act; (b) to all injuries received outside of the District by such employees, if the contract of employment was not expressly for service exclusively outside of the District.

If compensation for an injury is paid under the law of any other jurisdiction, nothing herein contained shall be construed so as to permit a total compensation for the same injury greater than is provided for in this act. 'Partial disability" includes disfigurement resulting from an injury such as to diminish ability to obtain employment.

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"Wages shall include the market value of board, lodging, fuel, and other advantages which can be estimated in money which the employee receives as a part of his remuneration.

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Weekly wages shall be computed in such a manner as is best calculated to give the average weekly earnings of the employee during the twelve months preceding the injury: Provided, That where, by reason of the shortness of the time during which the employee has been in the employment or the terms of the employment, it is impracticable to compute the rate of remuneration, regard may be had to the average weekly earnings which, during the twelve months previous to the injury, were being earned by a person in the same

grade employed at the same work by the employer of the injured employee, or if there is no person so employed, by a person in the same grade employed in the same class of employment and in the same district. If an employee at the time of the injury is regularly employed in a higher grade of work than formerly during the year and with larger regular wages, only such larger wages shall be taken into consideration in computing his average weekly wages.

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"Child" includes posthumous children, acknowledged illegitimate children, dependent stepchildren, and dependent adopted children, but does not include married children unless dependent. 'Brother" and sister" include stepbrothers and stepsisters, half brothers and half sisters, and brothers and sisters by adoption. All of the above terms and the term 'grandchild include only persons who at the time of the death of the deceased employee are under eighteen years of age or over that age and incapable of self-support. "Parent includes step-parents and parents by adoption; also any person who for more than three years prior to the death of the deceased employee stood in the place of a parent to him. Widow" includes only the decedent's wife living with or dependent for support upon him at the time of his death, or living apart for justifiable cause and by reason of his desertion. "Widower" includes only the decedent's husband dependent for support upon her at the time of her death. "Adoption" and adopted" include only legal adoption prior to the time of the injury.

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Any term shall include the singular and plural and both sexes where the context so requires.

SEC. 3. That on and after July 1, 1926, it shall be the duty of the United States Employees' Compensation Commission to disburse compensation from the District of Columbia insurance fund to any employee subject to this act for injury arising in the course of employment in accordance with the following provisions:

A. Immediately after an injury sustained by an employee and during the resulting period of disability, the District insurance fund shall furnish to such employee such medical, surgical, or other attendance or treatment, and hospital service and supplies as the nature of the injury may require.

B. During the first three days of disability the employee shall not be entitled to compensation except as provided in the preceding paragraph.

C. If the injury cause total disability, the District insurance fund shall pay to the disabled employee during such disability a weekly compensation equal to 66% per centum of his weekly wages.

D. If the injury cause temporary partial disability, the District insurance fund shall pay to the disabled employee during such disability a weekly compensation equal to 66% per centum of his loss in earning capacity.

E. If the injury cause permanent partial disability, the District insurance fund shall pay to the disabled employee during such period as the injury may cause total disability a weekly compensation equal to 66% per centum of his weekly wages. In addition the percentage which the permanent partial disability bears to total disability, taking into consideration the employee's age and occupation, shall be determined and the District insurance fund shall pay to the disabled employee a weekly compensation equal to 66% per centum of his weekly wages for a period of five and two-tenths weeks for each 1 per centum of disability which the commission determines that the employee has suffered. Disability rated as 70 per centum or more shall be considered total disability and compensated according to paragraph C.

F. The weekly compensation for total disability shall not be more than $25 nor less than $7, unless the employee's weekly wages are less than $7, in which case his weekly compensation shall be the full amount of his weekly wages. The weekly compensation for partial disability shall not be more than $25. In the case of persons who at the time of the injury were minors or employed in a learner's capacity and who were not physically or mentally defective, the commission shall, on any review after the time when the weekly wage-earning capacity of such persons would probably, but for the injury, have increased, award compensation based on such probable weekly wage-earning capacity. If an employee who has previously incurred permanent part al disability incurs a subsequent permanent partial disability, such that the compensation payable for the disability resulting from the combined injuries is greater than the compensation which, except for the preexisting disability, would have been payable for the latter injury, the employee shall receive compensation on the basis of the combined injuries, but his employer shall be

charged with the latter injury only, and the remainder shall be assessed on industry at large by being distributed over the insurance fund as a whole.

G. If death results from the injury within six years, the District insurance fund shall pay to the following persons for the following periods a weekly compensation equal to the following percentages of the deceased employee's weekly wages, subject to the modification that no compensation shall be paid where the death takes place more than one year after the cessation of disability resulting from such injury, or, if there has been no disability preceding death, more than one year after the injury:

(a) To the widow, if there is no child. 35 per centum. This compensation shall be paid until death or marriage. In case of marriage, there shall be paid to her a lump sum equal to the one hundred and four weeks' compensation. (b) To the widower, if there is no child, 35 per centum if dependent for support upon the deceased employee at the time of her death. This compensation shall be paid until his death or marriage.

(c) To the widow or widower, if there is a child, the compensation payable under clause (a) or clause (b) and in addition thereto 10 per centum for each child, not to exceed a total of 66% per centum for such widow or widower and children. The compensation payable on account of any child shall cease when he dies, marries, or reaches the age of eighteen, or if over eighteen, and incapable of self-support, becomes capable of self-support. If it be established to the satisfaction of the commission that the interests of the child would be advanced thereby, the commission may pay the compensation payable on account of such child to any proper person or corporation assuming the charge of such ch ld, to be applied for its support.

(d) To the children, if there is no widow or widower, 25 per centum for one child and 10 per centum additional for each additional child, not to exceed a total of 66% per centum divided among such children share and share alike. The compensation of each child shall be paid until he dies, marries, or reaches the age of eighteen, or, if over eighteen and incapable of slf-support, becomes capable of self-support.

(e) To the parents, if one is wholly dependent for support upon the deceased employee at the time of his death and the other is not dependent to any extent, 25 per centum; if both are wholly dependent, 20 per centum to each; if one is or both are partly dependent, a proportionate amount in the discretion of the commission. The above percentages shall be paid if there is no widow, widower, or child. If there is a widow, widower, or child, there shall be paid so much of the above percentages as, when added to the total percentages payable to the widow, widower, and children, will not exceed a total of 66% per centum.

(f) To the brothers, sisters, grandparents, and grandchildren. If one only is wholly dependent upon the deceased employee for support at the time of his death, 20 per centum to such dependent; if more than one are wholly dependent, 30 per centum divided among such dependents share and share alike; if there is no one of them wholly dependent, but one or more partly dependent, a proportionate amount in the discretion of the commission. The above percentages shall be paid if there is no widow, widower, child, or dependent parent, If there is a widow, widower, child, or dependent parent, there shall be paid so much of the above percentage as, when added to the total percentage payable to the widow, widower, children, and dependent parents, will not exceed a total of 66% per centum.

(g) The compensation of each beneficiary under clause (e) may continue until such dependent parent dies, marries, or ceases to be dependent, and the compensation of each beneficiary under clause (f) shall be paid for a period of eight years from the time of the death, unless before that time he, if a grandparent, dies, marries, or ceases to be dependent, or, if a brother, sister, or grandchild, dies, marries, or reaches the age of eighteen, or, if over eighteen and incapable of self-support, becomes capable of self-support.

(h) Upon the cessation of compensation under this section to or on account of any person, the compensation of the remaining persons entitled to compensation for the unexpired part of the period during which their compensation is payable shall be that which such persons would have received if they had been the only persons entitled to compensation at the time of the decedent's death.

(i) In case there are two or more classes of persons entitled to compensation under this section and the apportionment of such compensation, above provided, would result in injustice, the commission may, in its discretion, modify the apportionment to meet the requirements of the case.