ACTS OF 1921 CHAPTER 49.-Employment of labor-False advertising SECTION 1. Duplicate orders.-Any person who places with an employment agent an order for more employees that he actually desires, or who places with employment agents duplicate orders for employees, or who permits a standing order for employees to remain uncanceled at a time when he does not need such employees, shall be liable to persons who, in good faith, accept and act upon information furnished in good faith by employment agents under such excess, duplicate, or standing order for the amount actually expended in traveling from the location of such employment agent to the place of such proposed employment and return. SEC. 2. False orders.-Any person who gives to an employment agent or agents any false or unauthorized order for employees, or who causes to be published in any newspaper or otherwise any false or unauthorized notice or statement that employees are wanted by any person, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor. ACTS OF 1923 CHAPTER 93.--Interference with employment SECTION 1. Interference unlawful.---It shall be unlawful for any person or persons acting singly or jointly with another or others, by means of any kind of force, threats, coercion, intimidation or violence, to cause or induce or to attempt to cause or induce, any person engaged in a lawful occupation to quit such employment, or to refuse or to decline to accept or begin, a lawful employment. SEC. 2. Penalty.-Any person violating any of the provisions of this act shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by fine in any sum less than three hundred dollars ($300) or by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding six (6) months or by both. VERMONT GENERAL LAWS-1917 Exemption of wages from garnishment—Assignments SECTION 1944 (as amended 1919, No. 74). Amount exempt.-[Only wages in excess of $10 for work done prior to proceedings may be garnished: and the earnings of a defendant's wife or minor children are exempt. Wages of an employee residing and rendering service outside the State are similarly exempt if the law of the State of his residence provide exemption in an equal amount.] SEC. 1945. Debts due employees.-[Where a principal defendant owes workmen for services under the contract out of which the indebtedness arises, the amount of such debts shall be exempt from process.] SEC. 1946. Future earnings.-[Assignments of future earnings are not valid as against process unless made in writing to secure the payment of a prior or concurrently contracted debt, or of a debt for necessaries to be thereafter fur nished. Such assignment must be recorded in the office of the town clerk.] Suits for wages-Property worked on not exempt-Attachments SECTION 2439. Exemptions.-[This section declares the exemptions allowed a judgment debtor, but provides that no personal property is exempt from attachment on account of money owed for material or labor expended thereon.] SEC. 2824. Rank of attachments.--If a person or company is compelled to stop business by reason of attachment upon mesne process, and does not resume business within thirty days, and is indebted to an employee for wages, said employee may attach the same property upon his debt, and the attachment shall take precedence over such prior attachment to an amount not exceeding fifty dollars, if made before sale thereof on execution. Wages as preferred claims SECTION 3376. Administration.-[Wages due workmen, clerks, or servants. earned within 3 months prior to the employer's death, and not exceeding $50 to each claimant, rank ahead of debts due other creditors, but after funeral expenses, the cost of a headstone not exceeding $25, expenses of the last sickness, taxes, and debts due the State and the United States.] SEC. 4970. Mortgage on corporation property.-[No mortgage or lien on the property of a corporation can supersede the claims of wage earners for wages earned within the 3 months prior to the filing of such mortgage or lien. Employees receiving not over $1,500 per year are within the provisions of this section.] Accidents on railroads, etc.—Inspection SECTION 5045. Inspection.-[The public service commission must annually inspect the roadbed, rolling stock, equipment, etc., of all steam and electric railroads, as to safety, compliance with law, etc.] SEC. 5047. Railroads.--[All accidents on railroads resulting in loss of life or injury to person must be reported to the public service commission.] SEC. 5048. Investigation.--[Investigation must be made of the cause of every fatal accident, which may be public if thought to be necessary in the interests of public safety. The results are to be made public, and a permanent record kept.] SEC. 5059. Public service corporations.—[Gas, electric, and other public service corporations must report to the commission every accident resulting in loss of life or injury incapacitating a person from engaging in his usual vocations Investigation is to be made of the causes of accidents, and this may be public. if the commission thinks necessary.] Railroad construction-Wage debts of contractors SECTION 5153. Liability of corporation.—[Railroad corporations must require of contractors for construction security for the wage debts of such contractors; and if wages are not paid, the corporation is liable on presentation of any claim of a day laborer within 40 days after the performance of the labor for which the claim is made.] Railroads-Safety provisions SECTION 5204 (as amended 1919. No. 132). Height of bridges over tracks.— [A clearance of 22 feet for bridges, wires, ropes, etc., over railroad tracks is prescribed, except for 3 designated bridges; for one of these a minimum of 18 feet is provided. The public service commission may grant other exemptions, after hearing, as deemed to be for the public interest.] SECS. 5205, 5206. Exemptions.-[These sections exempt two specified bridges from the standard requirement.] SEC. 5207. Telltales.-A person or corporation operating a railroad or a part of a railroad in this State shall place at the approaches of all its bridges, the highway bridges, and all other structures of whatever kind or nature which cover or extend over its tracks that do not leave a clear height of twenty-two feet from the top of the rails and lowest parts of such bridges or other structures directly over such rails, such telltale warnings, or other safety devices of uniform pattern for warning trainmen of their approach thereto, as shall be recommended by the public service commission. SEC. 5208. Blocking frogs, etc.-A person or corporation operating a railroad or a part of a railroad in this State shall, at all times, keep the frogs, switches, and guard rails on its tracks, with the exception of guard rails upon bridges, filled or blocked with a wooden block or wedge, so as to prevent the feet of its employees from being caught therein. SEC. 5210. Violations.-[Failure to erect telltales or block frogs entails a fine of $50 for each day's neglect, and liability for resultant damages.] SECS. 5211, 5212. Inspection of locomotive boilers.-[The public service commission may make rules for testing locomotive boilers, tests to be made, if possible, by the master mechanic of the corporation. The use of a boiler which has not been tested, as required, entails a penalty of $20 for each day's use after notice to discontinue the same.] Street railways-Safety appliances-Seats for motormen SECTION 5274. Safety regulations.-A railroad corporation doing business in this State, operating its road by electricity, shall equip, maintain, and use on all double-truck cars operated in passenger service a good and sufficient air brake, and shall be fined ten dollars for each day that it neglects to comply with this provision. Such corporations shall also equip double-truck cars with stools of the proper height for the use of the motormen while running such cars between suburban points. Commissioner of industries [The civil administration of the State government was reorganized by act No. 7, 1923, as amended by act No. 8. One of the administrative departments provided for in section 2 of the earlier act, as amended, is:] 7. Department of public service.-The department of public service which shall be administered by the commissioner of public service and in which shall be the public service commission and the commissioner of industries. [The commissioner of industries is appointed by the governor, with the advice and consent of the senate, for a term of two years. (No. 8, Acts of 1923, repealing sec. 5752, G. L.) The following section of No. 8 provides for the distribution of certain powers:] SEC. 8. Powers of department of public service.---The department of public service shall have power: 1. The public service commission shall exercise the powers and duties now and hereafter by law invested in and imposed upon it. 2. To exercise the rights, powers, and duties now vested by law in the commissioner of industries through said commissioner, and said commissioner of industries shall have exclusive jurisdiction to exercise such mandatory or discretionary rights, powers, and duties as are now vested by law in him. 3. To exercise the rights, powers, and duties now vested by law in the commissioner of weights and measures through the commissioner of industries. 4. To exercise the rights, powers, and duties now vested by law in the State board of conciliation and arbitration through the commissioner of industries. [The following sections of the General Laws are unchanged:] SEC. 5753. Office.-Said commissioner shall be provided with an office in the capitol or in some other State building at Montpelier in which his records shall be kept. Said commissioner shall have a seal for the authentication of his orders, awards, and proceedings upon which shall be inscribed the words "Commissioner of industries-Seal-Vermont." SEC. 5754 (as amended 1921, No. 166). Deputies.-Said commissioner shall, subject to the approval of the governor, appoint one or more deputy commissioners, also a woman inspector for part or full time as may be required, for whose official acts he shall be responsible. Said deputy or deputies and said inspector shall hold office during the pleasure of said commissioner, and their compensation shall be fixed by said commissioner subject to the approval of the governor. SEC. 5755. Assistants.-Said commissioner shall maintain such office and employ such assistance, clerical or otherwise, as the governor deems necessary for the proper performance of the duties of said commissioner. SEC. 5756. Enforcement of laws.-Said commissioner shall make examinations and investigations to see that the laws pertaining to the employment of minors and women and to the weekly payment of wages are being complied with and for such purposes may enter any place where persons are employed, and summon witnesses, administer oaths, and demand the production of books and papers. The county court, a justice of the supreme court or a superior judge shall have power to enforce by proper proceedings the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production and examination of books, papers, records, and documents before said commissioner, and, in the case of a corporation, the provisions of sections four thousand nine hundred and fifty-one to four thousand nine hundred and fifty-five, both inclusive, shall apply. Whenever said commissioner finds a violation of the provisions of chapter two hundred and forty-three [relating to the inspection of factories]; of the provisions of law relating to the employment of minors and women; of the provisions of law relating to the weekly payment of wages and the provisions of law relating to the health, lives, and limbs of operators in factories, workshops, railroads, and other places and the provisions of law relating to the protection of the working classes; he shall submit the evidence thereof to the proper prosecuting officer, who shall prosecute the offender. SEC. 5828. Reports.-Said commissioner shall, in each even year, make a report to the governor showing the work done during the preceding two years, and shall include therein a properly classified statement of his expenses, statistical information relating to the number and character of industrial accidents during such two years, information as to the general industrial conditions prevailing within the State, and such other information and recommendations as seem pertinent. Such report shall be printed. Employment of women and children SECTION 5832. Certificate required.-[For employment in the occupations named in the next section, a child must deposit with the employer a certificate from the commissioner of industries.] SEC. 5833. Children under 16.-[Children under 16 may not be employed at railroad or manufacturing work, in hotels, billiard or pool rooms, in bowling alleys, or as messengers, except during vacation or before and after school hours, unless they have completed two years of a junior high school course or its equivalent. Work in these employments may not be in excess of 8 hours per day, 6 days per week, nor between 7 p. m. and 6 a. m.] SEC. 5834. Children under 14.-[No child under 14 may be employed in or about any mill, cannery, workshop, or factory.] SEC. 5835. Dangerous occupations.-[The employment of children under 16 in specified dangerous or injurious occupations is forbidden. For a similar list see secs. 3145. 3148, Delaware Code.] SEC. 5836. Females under eighteen years.-A person shall not employ, permit, or suffer to work a female under eighteen years of age in any capacity A where such employment compels her to remain standing continuously. person who employs such a female in any place or establishment mentioned in the second preceding section shall provide suitable seats, chairs, or benches for the use of such females, which shall be so placed as to be accessible to such employees, and shall permit the use of such seats, chairs, or benches by such employees when they are not necessarily engaged in the active duties for which they are employed, and shall provide at least one such chair to every three such employees. SEC. 5837. Hours of labor.-A child over sixteen and under eighteen years of age and a woman shall not be employed in laboring in a mine or quarry, manufacturing or mechanical establishment more than ten and a half hours in any one day or more than fifty-six hours in any one week. SEC. 5838. Posting notices; overemployment.-An employer shall post in a conspicuous place in every room in which persons mentioned in the preceding section are employed, a printed notice stating the number of hours' work required of them on each day of the week, the hours of commencing and stopping work, and the hours when the time allowed for meals begins and ends. The printed forms of such notices shall be provided by the commissioner of industries. An employer who employs such persons at any time, other than as stated in such notice, shall be guilty of a violation of a provision of the preceding section, unless it appears that such employment was to make up time lost on a previous day of the same week, in consequence of the stopping of machinery upon which such woman or child was employed or dependent for employment; but stopping of machinery for less than thirty consecutive minutes shall not justify employment at a time not stated in such notice. SEC. 5839. Pregnant women.-A woman shall not knowingly be employed in laboring in any mill, cannery, workshop, factory, manufacturing or mechanical establishment within two weeks before or four weeks after childbirth. This provision shall be included in the notice required by the preceding section. SEC. 5840. Regulations.-[The commissioner of industries may make regulations consistent with the law relative to the evidence of the age of children applying for certificates.] SEC. 5841. Inspection.-[The commissioner may inquire of employers in the occupations, etc., named in the act as to the employment of children, and may require the production of certificates. Investigation shall be made at least three times a year.] SECS. 5842, 5843. Violations.-[Persons in charge of a child are forbidden to allow employment in violation of the provisions of the law. A general penalty is provided for violation of a fine of $5 to $200, with option of imprisonment for a second offense.] Factory, etc., regulations—Payment of wages SECTION 5846. Definitions.-The word 'factory" as used in this chapter, shall mean any premises where steam, water, or other mechanical power is used in aid of manufacturing processes therein carried on. The word "workshop" as so used, shall mean any premises, room, or place, not a factory as above defined, wherein manual labor is performed by way of trade or for the purpose of gain in or incidental to any process of making, altering, repairing, ornamenting, finishing, or adapting for sale any article or part of an article, and to which or over which premises the employer of the person or persons working therein has the right of access or control; provided, however, that the performing of such manual labor in a private house or private room by the family dwelling therein or by any of them or in case a majority of the persons therein employed are members of such family, shall not of itself constitute such house or room a workshop. SEC. 5847. Powers and duties; inspections.-The commissioner of industries may enter a factory, mill, workshop, private works, or State institution which has shops or factories, when the same are open or in operation, for the purpose of examining into the methods of protection from danger to employees and into the sanitary condition in and around such buildings and places and to make a record of such inspection. In case said commissioner finds upon such inspection that the heating, lighting, ventilating, or sanitary arrangement of a workshop or factory is such as to be injurious to the health of the persons employed or residing therein or that the means of egress in case of fire or other |