Death benefits.

Nonresident

aliens.

For the loss of an arm, fifty per centum of wages during two hundred and fifteen weeks;

For the loss of a foot, fifty per centum of wages during one hundred and fifty weeks;

For the loss of a leg, fifty per centum of wages during two hundred and fifteen weeks;

For the loss of an eye, fifty per centum of wages during one hundred and twenty-five weeks;

For the loss of any two or more of such members, not constituting total disability, fifty per centum of wages during the aggregate of the periods specified for each.

The loss of both hands or both arms, or both feet, or both legs, or both eyes shall constitute total disability, to be compensated according to the provisions of subdivision 1 of this section.

Amputation between the elbow and the wrist shall be considered as the equivalent of the loss of a hand, and amputation between the knee and the ankle shall be considered as the equivalent of the loss of a foot. Amputation at or above the elbow shall be considered as the loss of an arm, and amputation at or above the knee shall be considered as the loss of a leg. Permanent loss of the use of a hand, arm, foot, leg or eye shall be considered as the equivalent of the loss of such hand, arm, foot, leg or eye. Compensation under this subdivision shall not be more than ten dollars per week nor less than five dollars per week: Provided, That, if at the time of injury the employee receives wages of less than five dollars per week, then he shall receive the full amount of such wages per week as compensation.

SEC. 22. (1) If death results from the injuries and the deceased employee leaves one or more dependents wholly dependent upon his earnings for support at the time of the accident causing the injury, the compensation, subject to the provisions of section 23, shall be fifty per centum of the wages received at the time of injury, but the compensation shall not be more than ten dollars per week nor less than five dollars per week: Provided, That, if at the time of injury the employee receives wages of less than five dollars per week, then the compensation shall be the full amount of such wages per week. This compensation shall be paid during dependency, not exceeding three hundred and fifty weeks from the date of the accident causing the injury.

(2) If the deceased employee leaves no dependents wholly dependent upon his earnings for support at the time of the accident causing the injury, but leaves one or more dependents only partly dependent upon his earnings for support at said time, the compensation shall be the same proportion of the benefits provided in subdivision 1 of this section for persons wholly dependent as the average amount of the wage regularly contributed by the deceased to such partial dependents at, and for a reasonable time immediately prior to the injury bears to the total wage of the deceased, during the same time.

(3) Upon the death of an employee, resulting through personal injuries as herein defined, whether or not there be dependents entitled to compensation, the reasonable expenses of the last sickness and burial, not exceeding one hundred dollars, without deduction of any amount theretofore paid for compensation or for medical expenses, shall be paid to his dependents, or if there be no dependent, then to the personal representatives of the deceased.

(4) Compensation under this act to alien dependents, widows, children and parents not residents of the United States, shall be the same in amount as is provided in each case for residents, except that at any time within one year after the death of the injured employee, the employer may, at his option, commute all future installments of compensation to be paid to such alien dependents by paying to them two-thirds of the total amount of such future installments of compensation. Alien widowers, brothers and sisters not residents of the United States shall not be entitled to any compensation.

(5) The consul general, consul, vice consul general, or vice consul, of the nation of which the employee, whose injury results in death, is a citizen, or the representative of such consul general, consul, vice consul general, or vice consul, residing within the State of Nebraska, shall be regarded as the sole legal representative of any alien dependents of the employee, residing outside of the United States, and repre

senting the nationality of the employee. Such consular officer or his representative, residing in the State of Nebraska, shall have in behalf of such nonresident dependents, the exclusive right to adjust and settle all claims for compensation provided by this act and to receive for distribution to such nonresidents alien dependents all compensation arising hereunder.

SEC. 23. The death of an injured employee prior to the expiration Death of emof the period within which he would receive such disability payment, ployee receiving shall be deemed to end such disability, and all liability for the re- compensation. mainder of such payment which he would have received in case he had lived shall be terminated, but the employer shall thereupon be liable for the following death benefit in lieu of any further disability indemnity: If the injury so received by such employee was the cause of his death, and such deceased employee leaves dependents as hereinbefore specified, wholly or partially dependent on him for support, the death benefit shall be a sum sufficient, when added to the indemnity which shall at the time of death have been paid or become payable under the provisions of this act to such deceased employee, to make the total compensation for the injury and death equal to the full amount which such dependents would have been entitled to receive under the provisions of section 22 hereof in case the accident had resulted in immediate death, and such benefit shall be payable in the same manner and subject to the same terms and conditions in all respects, as payments made under the provisions of said section 22. No deduction shall be made for the amount which may have been paid for medical and hospital' services and medicines or for the expenses of the last sickness or burial. If the employee die from some cause other than the injury, there shall be no liability for compensation to accrue after his death.

SEC. 24. The following persons shall be conclusively presumed to be wholly dependent for support upon a deceased employee:

(a) A wife upon a husband with whom she is living at the time of his death;

(b) A husband upon a wife with whom he is living at the time of her death;

(c) A child or children under the age of sixteen years (or over said age, if physically or mentally incapacitated from earning) upon the parent with whom he is or they are living at the time of death of such parent, there being no surviving parent. In case there is more than one child thus dependent, the death benefit shall be divided equally among them;

(d) Compensation shall be payable under sections 22 and 23 to or on account of any child, brother or sister, only if and while such child, brother or sister, is under the age of sixteen. No compensation shall be payable under said sections to a widow, unless she was living with her deceased husband at the time of his death: Provided, That a wife or a husband living in a state of abandonment for more than two years at the time of the injury, or subsequently, shall not be a beneficiary under this act. The terms "child" and "children" shall include stepchildren and adopted children if members of the decedent's household at the time of his death, and shall include posthumous children. If the compensation payable under said sections to any person shall for any cause cease, the compensation to the remaining persons entitled thereunder shall thereafter be the same as would have been payable to them had they been the only persons entitled to compensation at the time of the death of the deceased. If a widow or widower of a deceased employee shall remarry, then the compensation benefits shall become payable to the child or children of such widow or widower, if there be any such child or children; but if there be no such child or children of such dependent widow or widower, shall not be affected by such remarriage;

(e) In all other cases, questions of dependency, in whole or in part, shall be determined in accordance with the fact, as the fact may be at the time of the injury; and in such other cases, if there is more than one person wholly dependent, the death benefit shall be divided equally among them, and persons partly dependent, if any, shall receive no part thereof; if there is no one wholly dependent and more than one person

Dependents.

Payments, periodical.

Wages.

Willful negligence.

Subsequent in

juries.

Joint employ

ers.

Employees' insurance, etc.

partly dependent, the death benefit shall be divided among them according to the relative extent of their dependency;

(f) No person shall be considered a dependent, unless he or she be a member of the family of the deceased employee, or bears to him the relation of widow, or widower, or lineal descendent, or ancestor, or brother, or sister;

(g) Questions as to who constitute dependents and the extent of their dependency shall be determined as of the date of the accident to the employee, and the death benefit shall be directly recoverable by and payable to the dependent or dependents entitled thereto, or their legal guardians or trustees. No dependent of an injured employee shall be deemed, during the life of such employee, a party in interest to any proceeding by him for the enforcement of collection of any claim for compensation, nor as respects the compromise thereof by such employee.

SEC. 25. Except as hereinafter provided, all amounts of compensation payable under the provisions of this act shall be payable periodically in accordance with the method of payment of the wages of the employee at the time of his injury or death.

SEC. 26. Wherever in this act the term "wages" is used, it shall be construed to mean the money rate at which the service rendered is recompensed under the contract of hiring in force at the time of the accident, and shall not include gratuities received from the employer or others, nor shall it include board, lodging or similar advantages, received from the employer, unless the money value of such advantages shall have been fixed by the parties at the time of hiring. In occupations involving seasonal employment or employments dependent upon the weather, the employee's weekly wages shall be taken to be onefiftieth of the total wages which he has earned from all occupations during the year immediately preceding the accident, unless it be shown that during such year, by reason of exceptional causes, such method of computation does not ascertain fairly the earnings of the employee, in which case the period for calculation shall be extended so far as to give a basis for the fair ascertainment of his average weekly earnings. In continuous employments, if immediately prior to the accident the rate of wages was fixed by the day or hour, or by the output of the employee, his weekly wages shall be taken to be five and one-half times his average earnings at such rate for a working day of ordinary length, excluding earnings from overtime and using as the basis of calculation his earnings during so much of the preceding six months as he worked for the same employer.

SEC. 27. If the employee is injured by reason of his intentional willful negligence, or by reason of being in a state of intoxication, neither he nor his beneficiaries shall receive any compensation under the provisions of this act.

SEC. 28. If an employee receives an injury, which, of itself, would only cause partial disability, but which, combines [combined] with a previous disability, does in fact cause total disability, the employer shall only be liable as for the partial disability, so far as the subsequent injury is concerned.

SEC. 29. In case any employee for whose injury or death compensation is payable under this act shall, at the time of the injury, be employed and paid jointly by two or more employers subject to this act, such employers shall contribute to the payment of such compensation in proportion to their several wage liabilities to such employee. If one or more, but not all of such employers should be subject to the provisions of Part II of this act, then the liability of such of them as are so subject shall be to pay that proportion of the entire compensation which their proportionate wage liability bears to the entire wages of the employee: Provided, however, That nothing in this section shall prevent any arrangement between employers for a different distribution between themselves of the ultimate burden of compensation.

SEC. 30. No savings or insurance of the injured employee, or any contribution made by him to any benefit fund or protective association independent of this act shall be taken into consideration in determining the compensation to be paid hereunder, nor shall benefits derived from

any other source than those paid or caused to be paid by the employer as herein provided, be considered in fixing the compensation under this act.

SEC. 31. No agreement by an employee to waive his rights to compensation under this act shall be valid."

Waivers.

Incompetent

SEC. 32. If an injured employee is mentally incompetent or is a minor at the time when any right or privilege accrues to him under this act, persons. his guardian or next friend may, in his behalf, claim and exercise such right or privilege.

SEC. 33. No proceedings for compensation for an injury under this act shall be maintained, unless a notice of the injury shall have been given to the employer as soon as practicable after the happening thereof, and unless the claim for compensation with respect to such injury shall have been made within six months after the occurrence of the same, or, in case of the death of the employee, or in the event of his physical or mental incapacity within six months after death or the removal of such physical or mental incapacity.

The said notice shall be in writing, and shall state in ordinary language the time, place and cause of the injury; and shall be signed by the person injured, or by a person in his behalf, or, in the event of his death, by his legal representative or by a person in his behalf.

The notice shall be served upon the employer or an agent thereof. Such service may be made by delivering said notice to the person on whom it is to be served, or leaving it at his residence or place of business, or by sending it by registered mail addressed to the person or corporation on whom it is to be served at his last known residence or place of business.

A notice given under the provisions of this section shall not be held invalid or insufficient by reason of any inaccuracy in stating the time, place or cause of the injury, unless it is shown that it was the intention to mislead, and the employer, or the insurance company carrying such risk, as the case may be, was in fact misled thereby. Want of such written notice shall not be a bar to proceedings under this act, if it be shown that the employer had notice or knowledge of the injury.

Notice.

Medical exami

SEC. 34. After an employee has given notice of an injury as provided in section 33, and from time to time thereafter during the con- nations. tinuance of his disability, he shall, if so requested by the employer or the insurance company carrying such risk, submit himself to an examination by a physician or surgeon legally authorized to practice medicine under the laws of the State, furnished and paid for by the employer, or the insurance company carrying such risk, as the case may be. The employee shall have the right to have a physician provided and paid for by himself present at the examination. The refusal of the employee to submit to such examination shall deprive him of the right to compensation under this act during the continuance of such refusal and the period of such refusal shall be deducted from the period during which compensation would otherwise be payable.

SEC. 35. In all death claims, where the cause of death is obscure or disputed, any interested party may require an autopsy, the cost of such autopsy to be borne by the party demanding the same.

SEC. 36. The interested parties shall have the right to settle all matters of compensation between themselves in accordance with the provisions of this act.

SEC. 37. In case of a dispute over, or failure to agree upon a claim for compensation between employer and employee, or the dependents of the employee, the claim may be submitted to arbitration in such manner or method as may be mutually agreed upon, or either party may submit the claim, both as to the question of fact, the nature and effect of the injuries, and the amount of compensation therefor, according to the schedule herein provided, to the district court of the county which would have jurisdiction of a civil action between the parties, which court shall have authority to hear and determine the cause as a suit in equity and enter final judgment therein determining all questions of law and fact in accordance with the provisions of this act, which judgment shall be final and conclusive unless reversed or modified on appeal or otherwise modified pursuant to the provisions of this act.

Autopsy.

Settlements.

Disputes.

SEC. 38. In case of personal injury, all claim for compensation shall be forever barred unless, within one year after the accident, the parties shall have agreed upon the compensation payable under this act, or unless, within one year after the accident, one of the parties shall have filed a petition as provided in section 39 hereof. In case of death, all claims for compensation shall be forever barred unless, within one year after the death, the parties shall have agreed upon the compensation under this act, or unless within one year after the death, one of the parties shall have filed a petition as provided in section 39 hereof. Where, however, payments of compensation have been made in any case, said limitation shall not take effect until the expiration of one year from the time of the making of the last payment.

SEC. 39. Procedure in cases of dispute shall be as follows: Either party may file in the district court a verified petition setting forth the names and residences of the parties and the facts relating to the employment at the time of the injury, the injury in its extent and character, the amount of wages being received at the time of injury, the knowledge of or notice to the employer of the occurrence of said injury and such other facts as may be necessary for the information of the court, and also stating the matter or matters in dispute and the contention of the petitioner with reference thereto.

Upon the filing of such petition a summons shall issue and be served upon the adverse party, as in civil causes, together with a copy of the petition. Return of service shall be made within four days from the issuance of the summons. Within seven days after the return day of such summons the party upon whom the same is served shall file an answer to said petition, which shall admit or deny the substantial averments of the petition, and shall state the contention of the defendant with reference to the matters in dispute, as disclosed by the petition. The answer shall be verified in like manner as required for a petition. At the expiration of the time fixed for filing answer the court shall proceed to hear and determine the cause without delay and shall render judgment thereon according to the form of law. Any appeal from such judgment shall be prosecuted in accordance with the general laws of the State regulating appeals and actions at law except that such appeal shall be perfected within thirty days from the entry of the judgment and the cause shall be advanced for hearing in the supreme court so as to bring said cause on for argument before such court within sixty days from the filing of the appeal and said supreme court shall render its judgment and opinion in such cases within thirty days after submission.

SEC. 40. The amounts of compensation payable periodically under the law, either by agreement of the parties, or by decision of the court, may be commuted to one or more lump sum payments, except compensation due for death and permanent disability. These may be commuted only with the consent of the district court.

SEC. 41. All settlements by agreement of the parties and all awards of compensation made by the court, except those amounts payable periodically for six months or more, shall be final and not subject to readjustment.

SEC. 42. All amounts paid by an employer or by an insurance company carrying such risk, as the case may be, and received by the employee or his dependents, by lump sum payments, shall be final, but the amount of any agreement or award payable periodically for more than six months may be modified as follows:

(a) At any time by agreement of the parties;

(b) If the parties can not agree, then at any time after six months from the date of the agreement or award, an application may be made to the court by either party on the ground of increase or decrease or incapacity due solely to the injury, or that the condition of a dependent has changed as to age or marriage, or by reason of the death of a dependent. In such case the same procedure shall be followed as in section 39 in case of disputed claim for compensation.

SEC. 43. At any time after the amount of any award has been agreed upon by the parties, or found and ordered by the court, a sum equal to the present value of all future installments of compensation may (where death or the nature of the injury renders the amount of future payments