APPENDIX B.

TEXT OF THE ACTS PROVIDING COMPENSATION FOR ARTISANS AND LABORERS INJURED IN THE SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES.

[Act of May 30, 1908; 35 Stat. L., 556.]

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That when, on or after August first, nineteen hundred and eight, any person employed by the United States as an artisan or laborer in any of its manufacturing establishments, arsenals, or navy yards, or in the construction of river and harbor or fortification work or in hazardous employment on construction work in the reclamation of arid lands or the management and control of the same, or in hazardous employment under the Isthmian Canal Commission,' is injured in the course of such employment, such employee shall be entitled to receive for one year thereafter, unless such employee, in the opinion of the Secretary of Labor, be sooner able to resume work, the same pay as if he continued to be employed, such payment to be made under such regulations as the Secretary of Labor may prescribe: Provided, That no compensation shall be paid under this act where the injury is due to the negligence or misconduct of the employee injured, nor unless said injury shall continue for more than fifteen days. All questions of negligence or misconduct shall be determined by the Secretary of Labor. SEC. 2. That if any artisan or laborer so employed shall die during the said year by reason of such injury received in the course of such employment, leaving a widow, or a child or children under sixteen years of age, or a dependent parent, such widow and child or children and dependent parent shall be entitled to receive, in such portions and under such regulations as the Secretary of Labor may prescribe, the same amount, for the remainder of the said year, that said artisan or laborer would be entitled to receive as pay if such employee were alive and continued to be employed: Provided, That if the widow shall die at any time during the said year her portion of said amount shall be added to the amount to be paid to the remaining beneficiaries under the provisions of this section, if there be any.

SEC. 3. That whenever an accident occurs to any employee embraced within the terms of the first section of this act, and which results in death or a probable incapacity for work, it shall be the duty of the official superior of such employee to at once report such accident and the injury resulting therefrom to the head of his bureau or independent office, and his report shall be immediately communicated

1 The provision relating to the Isthmian Canal Commission is obsolete, having been superseded by separate enactment.

The authority and duties with respect to the administration of the Government workmen's compensation act of May 30, 1908, and amendments thereto, theretofore vested in the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, were transferred by the act of Mar. 4, 1913, to the Secretary of Labor; hence this change and other similar changes in the wording of this reproduction of the act of May 30, 1908, and amendments thereto.

through regular official channels to the Secretary of Labor. Such report shall state, first, the time, cause, and nature of the accident and injury and the probable duration of the injury resulting therefrom; second, whether the accident arose out of or in the course of the injured person's employment; third, whether the accident was due to negligence or misconduct on the part of the employee injured; fourth, any other matters required by such rules and regulations as the Secretary of Labor may prescribe. The head of each department or independent office shall have power, however, to charge a special official with the duty of making such reports.

SEC. 4. That in the case of any accident which shall result in death, the persons entitled to compensation under this act or their legal representatives shall, within ninety days after such death, file with the Secretary of Labor an affidavit setting forth their relationship to the deceased and the ground of their claim for compensation under the provisions of this act. This shall be accompanied by the certificate of the attending physician setting forth the fact and cause of death, or the nonproduction of the certificate shall be satisfactorily accounted for. In the case of incapacity for work lasting more than fifteen days, the injured party desiring to take the benefit of this act shall, within a reasonable period after the expiration of such time, file with his official superior, to be forwarded through regular official channels to the Secretary of Labor, an affidavit setting forth the grounds of his claim for compensation, to be accompanied by a certificate of the attending physician as to the cause and nature of the injury and probable duration of the incapacity, or the nonproduction of the certificate shall be satisfactorily accounted for. If the Secretary of Labor shall find from the report and affidavit or other evidence produced by the claimant or his or her legal representatives, or from such additional investigation as the Secretary of Labor may direct, that a claim for compensation is established under this act, the compensation to be paid shall be determined as provided under this act and approved for payment by the Secretary of Labor. SEC. 5. That the employee shall, whenever and as often as required by the Secretary of Labor, at least once in six months, submit to medical examination, to be provided and paid for under the direction of the Secretary, and if such employee refuses to submit to or obstructs such examination his or her right to compensation shall be lost for the period covered by the continuance of such refusal or obstruction.

SEC. 6. That payments under this act are only to be made to the beneficiaries or their legal representatives other than assignees, and shall not be subject to the claims of creditors.

SEC. 7. That the United States shall not exempt itself from liability under this act by any contract, agreement, rule, or regulation, and any such contract, agreement, rule, or regulation shall be pro tanto void.

SEC. 8. That all acts or parts of acts in conflict herewith or providing a different scale of compensation or otherwise regulating its payment are hereby repealed.

[Act of Mar. 11, 1912; 37 Stat. L., 74.]

That the provisions of the act approved May thirtieth, nineteen hundred and eight, entitled "An act granting to certain employees of the United States the right to receive from it compensation for

injuries sustained in the course of their employment," shall, in addition to the classes of persons therein designated, be held to apply to any artisan, laborer, or other employee engaged in any hazardous work under the Bureau of Mines or the Forestry Service of the United States: Provided, That this act shall not be held to embrace any case arising prior to its passage.

[Amending act of July 27, 1912; 37 Stat. L., 239.]

And hereafter the benefits of the act of May thirtieth, nineteen hundred and eight (Thirty-fifth Statutes, page five hundred and fifty-six), entitled "An act granting to certain employees of the United States the right to receive from it compensation for injuries sustained in the course of their employment," "shall be extended to persons employed by the United States in any hazardous employment in the Lighthouse Service * * *

The organic act creating the Department of Labor (37 Stat. L., 736) provides in section three that

All the powers and duties heretofore possessed by the Commissioner of Labor shall be retained and exercised by the Commissioner of Labor Statistics; and the administration of the act of May thirtieth, nineteen hundred and eight, granting to certain employees of the United States the right to receive from it compensation for injuries sustained in the course of their employment.

Under date of April 3, 1913, the Attorney General rendered an opinion that the final authority to determine claims arising under the compensation act rests in the Secretary of Labor, and not in the Commissioner of Labor Statistics. (30 Op. At. Gen., 145.)

REGULATIONS CONCERNING COMPENSATION TO INJURED GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES.

DUTIES OF EMPLOYEES.

1. Reports of injuries.-Whenever any injury is sustained by an employee in the course of his employment, he shall immediately report the same to his official superior, if he is able to do so, giving also a statement of the facts and the names of witnesses, if any.

2. First-aid treatment. No matter how slight the injury sustained, the injured employee shall immediately apply to the dispensary or medical officer, if there be one, for examination and for first-aid treatment, and it shall be the duty of his official superior to direct him to do so.

3. Reports of disability. In case the disability arises some time after the injury has been received, it shall be the duty of the injured employee to notify his official superior within 48 hours from the beginning of such disability.

4. Treatment. It shall be the duty of each injured employee intending to take advantage of the provisions of the act to obtain necessary medical and surgical treatment and to comply with all reasonable orders for treatment and conduct which the attending physician may give. He shall also submit to such medical examinations as his official superior may from time to time direct.

5. Notices of continuing disability. Every employee injured in the course of employment who is unable to return to work because of such injury, shall, within 24 hours, inform his official superior of such fact, either in person or by mail, telephone, or messenger. Such notice shall be given by the injured employee or for him every week, unless, in the opinion of the official superior, the permanent nature of the injury makes this notice unnecessary. Such notice should state when the injured employee was last seen by his attending physician.

6. Examinations. For the purpose of the medical examinations prescribed by the act, the injured employee shall appear at the dispensary of the establishment whenever directed to do so; but if he claims to be unable to present himself for such examination the medical officer or other officially designated physician may call at the residence of the injured employee in order to make an examination. The injured employee shall be entitled to have his attending physician present during such examination.

7. Disagreements. If the injured employee refuses to accept the opinion of the official examining physician as to his ability to resume work, either because of a different opinion held by his private physician or for any other reason, the employee shall immediately so report to his official superior, who will in turn report the same to the Secretary of Labor. In case there is a local referee physician representing the Department of Labor, the employee should be directed at once to report to him for examination, and the referee physician should be informed in writing as to the history of the case and the question or questions in dispute. The facts, including the findings of the referee physician, should then be reported to the Secretary of Labor.

8. Examinations by order of the Department of Labor.-On receipt of reports concerning disagreement between the claimant or his physician and the official examining physician, the Secretary of Labor will immediately order an examination of the claimant by a physician designated by him, so as to ascertain the claimant's physical condition, unless an examination has already been made by the referee physician representing the Department of Labor; and if the employee refuses to submit to or obstructs such examination, the right to compensation shall be lost for the period covered by the continuance of such refusal or obstruction.

9. Claims. The claim, properly filled out, must be presented by the injured employee to his official superior, who shall forward the same, with the statements of witnesses, if there were witnesses, through the regular official channels for transmission to the Secretary of Labor.

10. Certificates. In cases of continuing disability the injured employee shall furnish such medical certificates from time to time as the official superior may require.

11. Disregard of instructions.-Where an injured employee shall fail to make any of the reports prescribed in these regulations, or refuses to submit himself to examination by the medical officer or other officially designated physician, when ordered by his official superior to do so, such refusal or failure will be considered by the Secretary of Labor as presumptive evidence against his right to compensation under the law.