Negligence of superintend ent; Second, the negligence of a person in the service of the employer who was intrusted with and was exercising superintendence and whose sole or principal duty was that of superintendence, or, in the absence of such superintendent, of a person acting as superintendent with the authority or consent of such employer; or Negligence of Third, the negligence of a person in the service of the employer person in charge of sig. Who was in charge or control of a signal, switch, locomotive ennals, etc., on a gine, or train upon a railroad; the employee, or his legal representatives, shall, subject to the provisions of this act, have the Status of em- same rights to compensation and of action against the employer ployee. as if he had not been an employee, nor in the service, nor engaged in the work, of the employer. railroad. Construction of statute. Injuries causing death. Degree of culpability. Damages. Notice. A car which is in use by, or which is in possession of, a railroad corporation shall be considered as part of the ways, works, or machinery of the corporation which uses or has it in possession, within the meaning of clause one of this section, whether it is owned by such corporation or by some other company or person. One or more cars which are in motion, whether attached to an engine or not, shall constitute a train within the meaning of clause three of this section, and whoever, as part of his duty for the time being, physically controls or directs the movements of a signal, switch, locomotive engine, or train shall be deemed to be a person in charge or control of a signal, switch, locomotive engine, or train within the meaning of said clause. SEC. 2. If, as the result of the negligence of the employer or that of a person for whose negligence the employer is liable under the provisions of section one, an employee is killed or dies by reason of injuries received, his widow, or legal heirs, or next of kin who at the time of his death were dependent upon his wages for support, shall have a right of action for damages against the employer. SEC. 3. If, under the provisions of this act, damages are awarded for the death, they shall be assessed with reference to the degree of culpability of the employer or of the person for whose negligence the employer is liable. The amount of damages which may be awarded in an action under the provisions of section one for a personal injury to an employee, in which no damages for his death are awarded under the provisions of section two, shall not exceed two thousand pesos. The amount of damages which may be awarded in such action, if damages for his death are awarded under the provisions of section two, shall not be less than five hundred pesos nor more than two thousand five hundred pesos for both the injury and the death. SEC. 4. No action for damages for injuries or death under this act shall be maintained if a report thereof is not furnished to the employer within ninety days of the date, place, and cause of the injury or if the action is not brought within one year from the Limitation. time of the accident causing the injury or death. The report required by this section shall be made in writing and signed by the person injured or by another in his name, or if, on account of physical or mental disability, it is impossible for the person injured to give the notice within the time provided by this section, the same may be given within ten days after such disability shall have been removed, and in case of death without said report having been given and without the person having for ten days at any time after the period abovementioned been able to give such notice, the widow, legal heirs, or next of kin dependent upon his wages for support, may give such notice within thirty days following the death of the laborer. No report given under the provisions of this act shall be considered void or insufficient by reason only of some inaccuracy as regards the date, place, or cause of the injury, if there was no intention to mislead or the employer has not been misled by reason of such inaccuracy. Suits take precedence. SEC. 5. All actions for damages which may be brought under this act shall have preference over all other matters save and except criminal cases and habeas corpus matters on the dockets of the courts of first instance, and shall be promptly tried by the court and decided within fifteen days after final submission of the case to the court for decision. Allowance On application to the court by the party injured or by his duly authorized representatives, the court may make a proper allow- pending action. ance for food and medical attendance during the pendency of the action and while medical attendance is still necessary by reason of the injury: Provided, however, That the defendant in the action shall be given an opportunity to be heard before any such allowance is made. SEC. 6. If an employer enters into a contract, written or verbal, Employees of with an independent contractor to do part of such employer's contractors and subconwork, or if such contractor enters into a contract with a subcontractors. tractor to do all or any part of the work comprised in such contractor's contract with the employer, such contract or subcontract shall not bar the liability of the employer for injuries to the employees of such contractor or subcontractor caused by any defect in the condition of the ways, works, machinery, or plant, if they are the property of the employer or are furnished by him and if such defect arose or had not been discovered or remedied through the negligence of the employer or of some person intrusted by him with the duty of seeing that they were in proper condition. SEC. 7. An employer who shall have contributed to an insurance fund created and maintained for the mutual purpose of indemnify- tions to insuring an employee for personal injuries for which compensation may be recovered under the provisions of this act or who shall have contributed to any relief society for the same purpose may prove in mitigation of the damages recoverable by an employee under the provisions of this act such proportion of the pecuniary benefit which has been received by such employee from any fund or society on account of such contribution of said employer as the contribution of such employer to such fund or society bears to the whole contribution thereto. Contribuance funds. SEC. 8. An employee or his legal representatives shall not be Effect of entitled under the provisions of this act to any right of action knowledge of for damages against his employer if such employee knew of the employee. defect or negligence which caused the injury and failed within a reasonable time to give or cause to be given information thereof to the employer or to some person superior to himself in the service of the employer who was intrusted with general superintendence. SEC. 9. This act shall not be applicable to domestic servants Exemptions. or agricultural laborers. SEC. 10. Any agreement to renounce the benefits of this act Waivers void. made by the laborer prior to the occurrence of any accident resulting in his injury or death shall be null and void. Enacted, June 19, 1908. PORTO RICO. ACTS OF 1908. Negligence of employees on railroads, etc. (Page 92.) SECTION 1. Section 328 of the Penal Code shall be amended so as to read as follows: Section 328. Every conductor, engineer, brakeman, switchman, Negligence or other person having charge wholly or in part of any railroad causing death or injury. car, locomotive, automobile, train or steamboat, which is used as a common carrier, and any train dispatcher, telegraph operator, station agent, or other person wholly or in part charged with the duty of dispatching or directing the movements of any such car, locomotive, automobile, train or steamboat, who, through unskillfulness, negligence or carelessness, suffers or causes the same to collide with another car, locomotive, automobile, train or steam Eight hours when. boat, or with any other object or thing whereby the death or injury of a human being is produced, is punishable by imprisonment in jail for a maximum term of two years or in the penitentiary for not less than six months nor more than ten years, according to the gravity of the case. Approved, March 12, 1908. Hours of labor of employees on railroads. (Page 170.) SECTION 1. It shall be unlawful for any corporation or receiver rest required, operating a line of railroad, as a public carrier, in whole or in part, in the island of Porto Rico, or any officer, agent or representative of such corporation or receiver to require or permit any conductor, engineer, fireman, brakeman, train dispatcher, telegraph operator, or any trainman who has worked in his respective capacity for twelve hours within a day of twenty-four hours, to again go on duty or perform any work for such railroad until he has had at least eight hours rest: Provided, That this provision shall not apply in case of accident or casualty, or prevent train crews from taking a passenger train, or freight loaded exclusively with live stock or perishable freight to next nearest division point, upon such railroad: Provided, further, That this section shall no [not] apply to employees of sleeping cars. Violations. Scrip, etc., able. SEC. 2. Any corporation or receiver operating a line of railroad, as a public carrier, in whole or in part, in this island, who shall violate any of the provisions of this act, shall be liable to the people of Porto Rico for a penalty of not less than one hundred (100) dollars, nor more than five hundred (500) dollars, at the discretion of the court, for each offense, and such penalties shall be recovered and suit therefor shall be brought in the name of the people of Porto Rico, in a court of proper jurisdiction in any district through which such railroad may run, by the attorney-general of Porto Rico or under his direction. Approved, March 12, 1908. Payment of wages in scrip-Coercion of employees in trading. (Page 171.) SECTION 1. It shall be unlawful for any corporation, company, to be redeem- firm, or person engaged in any trade or business, either directly or indirectly, to issue, sell, give or deliver to any person employed as laborer, journeyman or foreman, by such corporation, company, firm or person, in payment of wages due such laborer, or as advances for labor not due, any script [scrip], token, draft, check or other evidence of indebtedness, payable or redeemable otherwise than in lawful money; and, if any such script [scrip], token, draft, check or other evidence of indebtedness, be so issued, sold, given or delivered to such laborer, it shall be construed, taken and held in all courts and places to be a promise to pay the sum specified therein in lawful money by the corporation, company, firm or person issuing, selling, giving or delivering the same to the person named therein, or to the holder thereof. And the corporation, company, firm, or person so issuing, selling, giving or delivering the same shall, moreover, be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than twenty-five dollars, nor more than five hundred dollars, and, at the discretion of the court, the officer or agent of the corporation, company, or firm, or the person issuing, selling, giving or delivering the same, may be imprisoned not less than ten days nor more than six months. Coercion to trading. as SEC. 2. If any corporation, company, firm or person shall coerce or compel, or attempt to coerce or compel, an employee in its, their, or his employment, to purchase goods or supplies in payment of wages due him, or to become due him, or otherwise, from any corporation, company, firm or person, such first-named corporation, company, firm or person shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished as provided in the preceding section. Approved, March 12, 1908. RHODE ISLAND. ACTS OF 1908. CHAPTER 1528.-Free public employment offices. SECTION 1. There shall be established and maintained, under Offices to be the care and direction of the commissioner of industrial statistics, established. in such towns or cities as may be selected after proper investigation by said commissioner, free employment offices for the purpose of bringing together those who seek employment and those who desire to employ. Equipment SEC. 2. The said commissioner is hereby authorized and directed to organize, within three months after the passage of this and officers. act, in each city or town selected, a free public employment office which shall be provided with suitable rooms, furniture, and equipment required for the transaction of the business provided for in this act, and shall appoint such clerical assistants as may be necessary for each of said offices, to discharge, under the direction of said commissioner, the duties hereinafter set forth, or which may be required by said commissioner in carrying out the purpose of this act. SEC. 3. It shall be the duty of said commissioner to receive and record, in books suitably arranged, all applications from those seeking employment and also from those seeking to employ, and to take such other action as may be deemed best to carry out the purposes of said offices. Such records shall show plainly in brief the qualifications of all applicants, and such other facts as may be deemed necessary by said commissioner, who shall furnish to each office all such record books, forms, blanks, or other stationery and postage as may be required in conducting the office. Each office shall be plainly indicated by a proper sign or signs. Registers. SEC. 4. The privilege of registration shall be confined to resiOnly citizens dents of this State, and no fees, direct or indirect, shall in any may register. No fees alcase be taken from anyone applying at any office maintained under lowed. the provisions of this act. Receiving SEC. 5. Any clerk or employee who directly or indirectly charges or receives any fee in the performance of his duties shall fees. be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be subject to a fine of not more than one hundred dollars, or be imprisoned not ex- Penalty. ceeding thirty days. Such fine or imprisonment shall disqualify him from ever having further connection with said offices. Weekly re SEC. 6. There shall be made from each office to said commissioner a weekly report of such applications for labor or employ- ports. ment as may be registered in said office, with such details as may be required by the commissioner. Said commissioner may cause such reports to be printed at proper intervals, the same to be exchanged between said offices, and may supply to the newspapers and to the citizens, upon request, such reports, which shall be posted in a conspicuous place in the several offices, so that they may be open to public inspection. Applications SEC. 7. Every application for employment or help made to a free public employment office shall become void after thirty days to be renewed. from its receipt unless renewed by the applicant. SEC. 8. The term " applicant for employment," as used in this Definitions. act, shall be construed to mean any person seeking work of any lawful character, and “applicant for help” shall mean any person or persons seeking help in any legitimate enterprise; and nothing in this act shall be construed to limit the term "work to manual occupation, but shall include professional service, and all other legitimate service. SEC. 9. If any applicant for help has secured the same, he shall, within ten days thereafter, notify the employment office to which application therefor was made, and such notice shall contain the name and last preceding address of the employees received through such office. If any such applicant neglects to notify such office, he shall be barred from all future rights and privileges of such employment office, in the discretion of said commissioner, to whom a report of such neglect shall have been made. Passed, April 14, 1908. CHAPTER 1536.-Fire escapes, etc., on factories and workshops- SECTION 7. * SEC. 8. It shall be the duty of the owner or owners of every such building, or, in case the lessee or lessees thereof shall be required under the terms of his or their lease, the duty of such lessee or lessees, to comply with the structural and fixture requirements specified in this act. * * * SEC. 9. In every city or town, the inspector of buildings, and any assistant inspector of buildings, any member of the board of police commissioners, the chief of police, any member of the board of fire commissioners if any, the chief of the fire department, and any person charged hereunder with the enforcement of the provisions hereof, shall be at all reasonable times admitted free of charge into all parts of every factory, laundry, or shop included within the provisions hereof, to ascertain whether the requirements of this act are complied with. * * SEC. 10. Any person, whose duty it is to comply with any of the provisions of this act, who shall neglect or refuse to comply with the same, shall be fined not exceeding one hundred dollars for each offence, and every day of such neglect or failure shall constitute a separate offence. The supreme court and the superior court within their respective jurisdictions shall have power to issue any extraordinary writs, or to proceed according to the course of equity, or both, to secure the fulfillment and execution of the provisions hereof. If any such remedy or proceeding is sought or brought in the superior court, it shall be in the court for the county in which the building is located. SEC. 11. It shall be the duty of the inspector of buildings of each city or town to enforce the structural and fixture requirements of this act. In any city or town, where there is no such inspector, it shall be the duty of each of the factory inspectors, and such person or persons as may be appointed for the purpose by any city or town council, to enforce the same. Passed April 22, 1908. CHAPTER 1551.-Assignments of wages. SECTION 1. No assignment of future earnings or wages shall be valid for a period exceeding one year from the date thereof; nor unless made to secure a debt contracted prior to or simultaneously |