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respect does not depend on whether the general relation of employer and employee subsists between the parties, but whether at the time of the accident the employee was actually in the performance of the employer's business or under his control and subject to his direction; and it is held that an employee is deemed to be in the employer's service whenever he is present to perform his duties as a servant, and subject to orders, although at a given time he may not be in the actual performance of a duty. The law on this point is thus stated by an eminent judge: "An accident arises in the course of employment when the employee is doing what a man so employed may reasonably do, within a time during which he is employed, and at a place where he may reasonably be during that time."

Generally speaking, in a manufacturing or other similar business, the workman begins his employment upon entering the employer's premises and continues in it until he has left them. It has been held, however, that when the employee enters the premises by a forbidden route or one different from that provided by the employer, a resulting injury is not incurred in the course of his employment. Nor is the employer responsible when the employee temporarily leaves his work and for purposes of his own goes to a part of the establishment where he has no duty to perform and there meets with an accident; nor where, being employed to work on a certain machine, or to do a certain kind of work, he voluntarily and without orders undertakes the operation of a different machine or the performance of a different kind of work. But if the work is done with the assent of the employer, express or implied, or by the direction of his authorized agent the fact that it is outside of the scope of his regular employment is immaterial. In the case of a sudden emergency the employee may, in the interests of his employer, do acts not within the scope of his usual employment, as when a servant was injured while endeavoring to stop his master's runaway horse.

Where the accident does not take place on the employer's premises his liability depends upon the same general principles. Thus if the employer sends his coachman on an errand with his carriage and the coachman goes on a pleasure ride or on business of his own, the employer is not responsible, and so when he takes

his employer's horse, or automobile without leave. But where a servant was injured while watering his employer's horse, which was one of his duties, it was held to be immaterial that he was intending after the watering to take the horse out for his own purposes.

Where a workman was employed in unloading a gondola car and after it was unloaded jumped on the car and rode to a switch where he had no duty, merely to pass the time, it was held that the employer was not liable for an injury which he sustained while so riding. On the other hand, where a factory employee deviated from his usual route in going from his home to his work in order to procure an article which his employer had directed him to procure it was held that this was in the course of his employment. And so where it is a part of the contract of service, express or implied, that the employee shall be carried to and from the place where the work is actually performed an accident happening on the way is in the course of employment.

The relation of employer and employee exists for a reasonable time before and after the actual performance of work provided the employee is upon the employer's premises. Thus, injuries sustained while coming to work or leaving it are within the scope of the employment.

So, where a workman after finishing his work for the day was injured while changing his clothes. And where a woman, after she had quit work at her machine, had her hair caught in machinery while combing it preparatory to going home at noon, it was held that the accident arose out of and in course of her employment. Where a workman is taking his lunch during the lunch hour upon the employer's premises at a place provided for that purpose, or at an apparently safe place which he has not been forbidden to use, he is still in the exercise of his employment. So, where a woman, after leaving her work room at the noon hour to go to lunch was injured by falling on stairs which formed the only means of access to the room, although not in the control of the employer, it was held that her going out for that purpose was incident to her employment, and that she was entitled to compensation. And a workman is still acting in the course of his employment where after his work is finished he returns to his employer's premises for his pay.

THIRD-COMPENSATION FOR INJURIES.

In case of death a few of the states provide for the payment to the family of the deceased employee of a lump sum, the amount of three or four years' wages, but not less than a minimum amount varying from $1000 to $2000 and not more than a maximum amount of about $4000. In most cases, however, a system of weekly payments is adopted. Payments are usually made to the surviving wife or husband, and minor children under eighteen (or over eighteen if physically or mentally incapacitated), and if there are none then to other persons, if any, wholly dependent upon the deceased for support. Provision is also usually made proportionally for persons partially dependent.

These payments are based on the average weekly wages of the deceased employee, and are made for only a limited time. They vary greatly in the different states both as to amounts and the times during which they are paid. In Massachusetts, for example, the amount of the weekly payment is one-half of the average weekly wages of the deceased, but not less than four dollars nor more than ten for a period of eight hundred weeks from the date of the injury. In other states having a similar scale of payments it is provided that where the average wage does not exceed five dollars the weekly payment shall equal the whole average wage. On the other hand the law of New York provides for the payment of thirty per cent. of the average weekly wage to the surviving wife or dependent husband during widowhood or dependent widowerhood, and fifteen per cent. additional for each minor child until the age of eighteen, not exceeding in all sixty-six and two-thirds per cent. of the average weekly wage. Where there are no dependents provision is usually made for the payment of funeral expenses to a limited amount.

In case of injuries not fatal, the laws of all the states provide for immediate surgical and hospital treatment at the expense of the employer for a term varying from two weeks to sixty days. In some states there is a further limitation as to the amount of expense to be thus incurred.

Usually, in order to guard against malingering no direct payment is made for two weeks after the accident. After that time weekly payments are made for limited terms to the injured employee, or, in case of his death before full payment has been

made, to his family the amount of which is based on a certain percentage, varying from fifty to sixty-six and two-thirds, of his average weekly wages. These weekly benefit payments are usually granted for limited periods and are subject to the further limitation that they shall not be less than a minimum sum varying from four to six dollars per week, nor exceed a maximum sum of from ten to fifteen dollars. In case of blindness or of the loss of a limb or other bodily mutilation an additional payment is usually provided for, the amount of which is determined by certain schedules in which the amount payable for each kind of injury is specified. In Washington and Oregon life pensions are given in case of permanent total disability.

Unless the employer has actual knowledge of the accident, notice must be given to him as soon as practicable In some states notice must be given within thirty days after the accident. In New York notice must be given to the employer and to the State Compensation Commission within ten days, or in case of death within thirty days. The notice should specify the names of employer and employee, the nature of the injury and the time and place of the occurrence of the accident, but errors in defects in the notice do not prejudice the rights of the employee unless the employer is misled thereby. The claim for compensation must also be presented within a limited time, usually within one year after the accident.

After the employee has given notice of his injury and from time to time during his disability he must if requested by the employer submit himself to examination by a physician or surgeon appointed by the employer, but he has a right to have a physician appointed and paid by himself present at such examinations. The Illinois statute provides that if the employee shall persist in unsanitary or injurious practices which tend either to imperil or retard recovery, or shall refuse to submit to such medical or surgical treatment as is reasonably essential to promote recovery his compensation may be reduced or suspended by the State Board.

It is provided in the laws of many of the states that no agreement on the part of the employee to waive the benefits of the act shall be valid, and also that rights to compensation shall not be assignable or subject to claims of creditor.

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The Workmen's Compensation Law usually provides for the appointment of a State Board or Commission having jurisdiction over all claims for compensation under the Act. If the parties agree upon the amount and terms of compensation a memorandum of the agreement is filed with the Board which is thereafter enforceable in the same manner as a decree or judgment of a court. If the liability of the employer is disputed, or if the parties do not agree as to the compensation to be paid, a petition setting forth the nature and circumstances of the case is presented to the Board, upon which, after hearing the parties, the Board determines the questions at issue between them. In some states these questions are decided by a board of arbitration consisting of one member of the State Board and one person appointed by each of the parties, their decision being subject to revision by the State Board. In Louisiana, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island the amount of compensation is determined in the first instance by proceedings in court. These laws are always liberally construed; the proceedings before the Board are informal, and technical rules of evidence are disregarded.

The State Board retains a supervision over the matter of compensation and may on proper showing modify the original award if a change of circumstances requires it. It usually has power also to commute weekly payments into payment of a lump sum if that clearly appears to be for the interest of the party receiving it, and to make such other changes in the form and manner of payment as it may deem to be for the best interest of the parties.

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The increased liabilities imposed upon the employer by the Compensation Laws have made it more than ever important to him to be able to insure himself against these risks. It is no less important to the employee that his employer should be insured, and that the payment of compensation for injuries should not be dependent upon the solvency of the employer. Accordingly, in many of the Compensation laws special provision is made for such insurance, either by the establishment of a State Fund or by the organization of an Employers' Insurance Association.

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