an arbitration committee or a memorandum of agreement, and that there shall be no appeal from a decree based upon an order or decision of the board which has not been presented to the court within ten days after the notice of the filing thereof by the board. Upon the presentation to it of a certified copy of a decision of the industrial accident board ending, diminishing or increasing a weekly payment under the provisions of Part III, section twelve, the court shall revoke or modify the decree to conform to such decision.

Review of

SEC. 12. Any weekly payment under this act may be reviewed by the industrial accident board at the request of the association or of the award. employee; and on such review it may be ended, diminished or increased, subject to the maximum and minimum amounts above provided, if the board finds that the condition of the employee warrants such action.

SEC. 13. Fees of attorneys and physicians for services under this act shall be subject to the approval of the industrial accident board.

SEC. 14. If the committee of arbitration, industrial accident board, or any court before whom any proceedings are brought under this act determines that such proceedings have been brought, prosecuted, or defended without reasonable ground, it shall assess the whole cost of the proceedings upon the party who has so brought, prosecuted or defended them.

Fees to be ap

proved.

Costs.

SEC. 15 (as amended by Chapter 448, Acts of 1913). Where the injury Injuries caused for which compensation is payable under this act was caused under by third persons. circumstances creating a legal liability in some person other than the subscriber to pay damages in respect thereof, the employee may at his option proceed either at law against that person to recover damages, or against the association for compensation under this act, but not against both, and if compensation be paid under this act, the association may enforce in the name of the employee, or in its own name and for its own benefit, the liability of such other person, and in case the association recovers a sum greater than that paid by the association to the employee four-fifths of the excess shall be paid over to the employee.

SEC. 16 (as amended by Chapter 571, Acts of 1912). All questions Disputes. arising under this act, if not settled by agreement by the parties interested therein, shall, except as otherwise herein provided, be determined by the industrial accident board. The decisions of the industrial accident board shall for all purposes be enforcible under the provisions of Part III, section eleven.

SEC. 17. If a subscriber enters into a contract, written or oral, with an independent contractor to do such subscriber's work, or if such a contractor enters into a contract with a subcontractor to do all or any part of the work comprised in such contract with the subscriber, and the association would, if such work were executed by employees immediately employed by the subscriber, be liable to pay compensation under this act to those employees, the association shall pay to such employees any compensation which would be payable to them under this act if the independent or subcontractors were subscribers. The association, however, shall be entitled to recover indemnity from any other person who would have been liable to such employees independently of this section, and if the association has paid compensation under the terms of this section, it may enforce in the name of the employee, or in its own name and for the benefit of the association, the liability of such other person. This section shall not apply to any contract of an independent or subcontractor which is merely ancillary and incidental to, and is no part of or process in, the trade or business carried on by the subscriber, nor to any case where the injury occurred elsewhere than on, in, or about the premises on which the contractor has undertaken to execute the work for the subscriber or which are under the control or management of the subscriber.

Independent contractors.

Accidents to be

SEC. 18. Every employer shall hereafter keep a record of all injuries, fatal or otherwise, received by his employees in the course of their em- reported. ployment. Within forty-eight hours, not counting Sundays and legal holidays, after the occurrence of an accident resulting in personal injury

a report thereof shall be made in writing to the industrial accident board on blanks to be procured from the board for the purpose.

Association

created.

Board of directors.

Powers of

board.

Officers.

Quorum.

Membership.

First meeting.

Votes.

Policies issued, when.

Same.

Issues cease, when.

Upon the termination of the disability of the injured employee or, if such disability extends beyond a period of sixty days, at the expiration of such period the employer shall make a supplemental report on blanks to be procured from the board for that purpose.

The said reports shall contain the name and nature of the business of the employer, the location of the establishment, the name, age, sex and occupation of the injured employee, and shall state the date and hour of the accident, the nature and cause of the injury, and such other information as may be required by the board.

Any employer who refuses or neglects to make the report required by this section shall be punished by a fine of not more than fifty dollars for each offense.

PART IV.

THE MASSACHUSETTS EMPLOYEES INSURANCE ASSOCIATION.

SECTION 1. The Massachusetts Employees Insurance Association is hereby created a body corporate with the powers provided in this act and with all the general corporate powers incident thereto.

SEC. 2. The governor shall appoint a board of directors of the association, consisting of fifteen members, who shall serve for a term of one year, or until their successors are elected by ballot by the subscribers at such time and for such term as the by-laws shall provide.

SEC. 3. Until the first meeting of the subscribers the board of directors shall have and exercise all the powers of the subscribers, and may adopt by-laws not inconsistent with the provisions of this act, which shall be in effect until amended or repealed by the subscribers.

SEC. 4. The board of directors shall annually choose by ballot a president, who shall be a member of the board, a secretary, a treasurer, and such other officers as the by-laws shall provide.

SEC. 5. Seven or more of the directors shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business.

Vacancies in any office may be filled in such manner as the by-laws shall provide.

SEC. 6. Any employer in the Commonwealth may become a subscriber.

SEC. 7. The board of directors shall, within thirty days of the subscription of twenty-five employers, call the first meeting of the subscribers by a notice in writing mailed to each subscriber at his place of business not less than ten days before the date fixed for the meeting.

SEC. 8. In any meeting of the subscribers each subscriber shall be entitled to one vote, and if a subscriber has five hundred employees to whom the association is bound to pay compensation he shall be entitled to two votes, and he shall be entitled to one additional vote for each additional five hundred employees to whom the association is bound to pay compensation, but no subscriber shall cast, by his own right or by the right of proxy, more than twenty votes.

SEC. 9. No policy shall be issued by the association until not less than one hundred employers have subscribed, who have not less than ten thousand employees to whom the association may be bound to pay compensation.

SEC. 10. No policy shall be issued until a list of the subscribers, with the number of employees of each, together with such other information as the insurance commissioner may require, shall have been filed at the insurance department, nor until the president and secretary of the association shall have certified under oath that every subscription in the list so filed is genuine and made with an agreement by every subscriber that he will take the policies subscribed for by him within thirty days of the granting of a license to the association by the insurance commissioner to issue policies.

SEC. 11. If the number of subscribers falls below one hundred, or the number of employees to whom the association may be bound to pay compensation falls below ten thousand, no further policies shall be issued until other employers have subscribed who, together with existing subscribers, amount to not less than one hundred who have not less than ten thousand employees, said subscriptions to be subject to the provisions contained in the preceding section.

SEC. 12. Upon the filing of the certificate provided for in the two License. preceding sections the insurance commissioner shall make such investigation as he may deem proper and, if his findings warrant it, grant a license to the association to issue policies.

SEC. 13. The board of directors shall distribute the subscribers into groups in accordance with the nature of the business and the degree of the risk of injury.

Subscribers within each group shall annually pay in cash, or notes absolutely payable, such premiums as may be required to pay the compensation herein provided for the injuries which may occur in that

year.

SEC. 14. The association may in its by-laws and policies fix the contingent mutual liability of the subscribers for the payment of losses and expenses not provided for by its cash funds; but such contingent liability of a subscriber shall not be less than an amount equal to and in addition to the cash premium.

SEC. 15. If the association is not possessed of cash funds above its unearned premiums sufficient for the payment of incurred losses and expenses, it shall make an assessment for the amount needed to pay such losses and expenses upon the subscribers liable to assessment therefor in proportion to their several liability.

Every subscriber shall pay his proportional part of any assessments which may be laid by the association, in accordance with law and his contract, on account of injuries sustained and expenses incurred while he is a subscriber.

Risk groups.

Liabilities.

Assessments.

SEC. 16. The board of directors may, from time to time, by vote fix Dividends. and determine the amount to be paid as a dividend upon policies expiring during each year after retaining sufficient sums to pay all the compensation which may be payable on account of injuries sustained and expenses incurred.

All premiums, assessments, and dividends shall be fixed by and for groups as heretofore provided in accordance with the experience of each group, but all the funds of the association and the contingent liability of all the subscribers shall be available for the payment of any claim against the association.

Rates to be ap

SEC. 17. Any proposed premium, assessment, dividend or distribution of subscribers shall be filed with the insurance department and proved. shall not take effect until approved by the insurance commissioner after such investigation as he may deem necessary.

SEC. 18. The board of directors shall make and enforce reasonable rules and regulations for the prevention of injuries on the premises of subscribers, and for this purpose the inspectors of the association shall have free access to all such premises during regular working hours.

Any subscriber or employee aggrieved by any such rule or regulation may petition the industrial accident board for a review, and it may affirm, amend, or annul the rule or regulation.

Rules.

False state

SEC. 19. If any officer of the association shall falsely make oath to any certificate required to be filed with the insurance commissioner, ments. he shall be guilty of perjury.

SEC. 20. Every subscriber shall, as soon as he secures a policy, give Notice of policy. notice, in writing or print, to all persons under contract of hire with him that he has provided for payment to injured employees by the association.

Notice by sub

SEC. 21 (as amended by Chapter 571, Acts of 1912). Every subscriber shall give notice in writing or print to every person with whom scribers. he is about to enter into a contract of hire that he has provided for payment to injured employees by the association. If an employer ceases to be a subscriber he shall, on or before the day on which his policy expires, give notice thereof in writing or print to all persons under contract with him. In case of the renewal of the policy no notice shall be required under the provisions of this act. He shall file a copy of said notice with the industrial accident board. The notices required by this and the preceding section may be given in the manner therein provided or in such other manner as may be approved by the industrial accident board.

SEC. 22. If a subscriber, who has complied with all the rules, regulations and demands of the association, is required by any judgment

30597°-Bull. 126-14-18

Employers reimbursed, when.

State insurance code does

apply.

Expenses.

Limit.

of a court of law to pay to an employee any damages on account of personal injury sustained by such employee during the period of subscription, the association shall pay to the subscriber the full amount of such judgment and the cost assessed therewith, if the subscriber shall have given the association notice in writing of the bringing of the action upon which the judgment was recovered and an opportunity to appear and defend the same.

SEC. 23. The provisions of chapter five hundred and seventy-six not of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and seven and of acts in amendment thereof shall apply to the association, so far as such provisions are pertinent and not in conflict with the provisions of this act, except that the corporate powers shall not expire because of failure to issue policies or make insurance.

SEC. 24. The board of directors appointed by the governor under the provisions of Part IV, section two, may incur such expenses in the performance of its duties as shall be approved by the governor and council. Such expenses shall be paid from the treasury of the Commonwealth and shall not exceed in amount the sum of fifteen thousand dollars.

PART V.

MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS.

SECTION. 1. If an employee of a subscriber files any claim with or accepts any payment from the association on account of personal injury, or makes any agreement, or submits any question to arbitration, under this act, such action shall constitute a release to the subscriber of all claims or demands at law, if any, arising from the injury. SEC. 2 (as amended by Chapter 568, Acts of 1913). The following words and phrases, as used in this act, shall, unless a different meaning is plainly required by the context, have the following meaning:

'Employer" shall include the legal representative of a deceased employer.

"Employee" shall include every person in the service of another under any contract of hire, express or implied, oral or written, except masters of and seamen on vessels engaged in interstate or foreign commerce, and except one whose employment is but casual, or is not in the usual course of the trade, business, profession or occupation of his employer. Any reference to an employee who has been injured shall, when employee is dead, also include his legal representatives, dependents and other persons to whom compensation may be payable.

"Dependents" shall mean members of the employee's family or next of kin who were wholly or partly dependent upon the earnings of the employee for support at the time of the injury.

"Average weekly wages' shall mean the earnings of the injured employee during the period of twelve calendar months immediately preceding the date of injury, divided by fifty-two; but if the injured employee lost more than two weeks' time during such period then the earning for the remainder of such twelve calendar months shall be divided by the number of weeks remaining after the time so lost has been deducted. Where, by reason of the shortness of the time during which the employee has been in the employment of his employer, or the nature or terms of the employment, it is impracticable to compute the average weekly wages, as above defined, regard may be had to the average weekly amount, which during the twelve months previous to the injury, as being earned by a person in the same grade employed at the same work by the same employer; or, if there is no person so employed, by a person in the same grade employed in same class of employment and in the same district.

"Association" shall mean the Massachusetts Employees Insurance Association.

"Subscriber" shall mean an employer who has become a member of the association by paying a year's premium in advance and receiving the receipt of the association therefor, provided that the association holds a license issued by the insurance commissioner as provided in Part IV, section twelve.

insurance.

SEC. 3 (as amended by Chapter 571, Acts of 1912). Any liability Who may write insurance company authorized to do business within this Commonwealth shall have the same right as the association to insure the liability to pay the compensation provided for by Part II of this act, and when such liability company issues a policy conditioned to pay such compensation the holder of such policy shall be regarded as a subscriber so far as applicable within the meaning of this act, and when any such company insures such payment of compensation it shall be subject to the provisions of Parts I, II, III and V and of section twenty-two of Part IV of this act, and shall file with the insurance department its classifications of risks and premiums relating thereto and any subsequent proposed classifications or premiums, none of which shall take effect until the insurance commissioner has approved the same as adequate for the risks to which they respectively apply.

SEC. 4 (as amended by Chapter 571, Acts of 1912). Sections one hundred and thirty-six to one hundred and thirty-nine, inclusive, of chapter five hundred and fourteen of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and nine are hereby repealed.

SEC. 5. The provisions of this act shall not apply to injuries sustained prior to the taking effect thereof.

SEC. 6 (as amended by Chapter 571, Acts of 1912). Part IV of this act shall take effect on the first day of January, nineteen hundred and twelve; sections one to three, inclusive, of Part III shall take effect on the tenth day of May, nineteen hundred and twelve; the remainder thereof shall take effect on the first day of July, nineteen hundred and twelve.

Approved July 28, 1911.

ACTS OF 1912.

CHAPTER 666.-Compensation of workmen for injuries-Regulation of

insurance.

Repeals.

Prior injuries.

Law in effect,

when.

Disapproval of

SECTION 1. The insurance commissioner may withdraw his approval of any premium or distribution of subscribers given by him rates, etc. to the Massachusetts Employees Insurance Association under the provisions of section seventeen of Part IV of chapter seven hundred and fifty-one of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and eleven, or of any premium or rate made by an insurance company and approved by him under the provisions of section three of Part V of said chapter seven hundred and fifty-one as amended by section seventeen of chapter five hundred and seventy-one of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and twelve.

SEC. 2. The notices required by section five of Part I of said chapter seven hundred and fifty-one shall be given in such manner as the industrial accident board may approve.

Approved May 28, 1912.

ACTS OF 1913.

of

Employees State and musəni

CHAPTER 807.-Compensation for injuries to public employees. SECTION 1. The Commonwealth shall and any county, city, town, or district having the power of taxation, may pay the compensation palities. provided by Part II of chapter seven hundred and fifty-one of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and eleven and acts in amendment thereof and in addition thereto to such laborers, workmen and mechanics employed by it as receive injuries arising out of and in the course of their employment, or, in case of death resulting from any such injury, may pay compensation as provided in sections six, seven and eight of said Part II, and in any amendments thereof, to the persons thereto entitled.

SEC. 2. Procedure under this act and the jurisdiction of the indus- Procedure and trial accident board shall be the same as under the provisions of said jurisdiction. chapter seven hundred and fifty-one, and the Commonwealth or a county, city, town or district which accepts the provisions of this act