Chapter IV: Section 1: Dangerous employment defined. That every employer

in the State of Minnesota conducting an employment in which
there hereafter occurs bodily injuries to any of the employes
arising out of, and in the course of, such employment, is for
the purposes of this act hereby defined to be conducting a
dangerous employment [at the time of such occurrence], and
consequently subject to the provisions of this act and entitled
to the benefits thereof.

Sec. 2. _Liability of employers._ That every such employer
shall be liable to pay to every such employe so injured,
or in case of his death, to the legal representatives, as
hereinafter defined and apportioned for all bodily injuries
received by such employe arising out of, and in the course
of, such employment in this State disabling such employe from
regular services in such employment for more than ten days
and according to the schedule of rates contained in Section 3
of this act, on the condition precedent only, that, in case
of dispute as to the amount to be paid for such injuries, or
the failure or refusal to agree upon or to pay the same, such
employe or the legal representatives thereof shall comply with
the provisions of this act.

Sec. 3. _Compensation allowed._ The compensation herein and
hereby allowed, if established as herein provided, having
arisen out of and in the course of such dangerous employment
within this State, shall be on the following basis:

(a) For immediate death or for death accruing within five years
as a result of such injuries, or for injuries causing total
incapacity for that service for five years or more, 60 per
cent. of the amount of wages the injured was receiving at the
time of the accident for a period of five years, provided, such
payment shall not continue longer than to aggregate $3000.

(b) For total or partial disability for less than five years,
60 per cent. of the wages the injured was receiving at the time
of the injury so long as there is complete disability for that
service and that proportion of the said percentage which the
depleted earning capacity for that service bears to the total
disability when the injury is only partial or after it becomes
only partial.

(c) In addition to the foregoing payments, if the injured loses
both feet or both hands, or one foot and one hand, or both
eyes, or one eye and one foot or one hand, he shall receive,
during the full period of five years, 40 per cent. of the
wages which he was receiving at the time of such accident; or
if he loses one foot, one hand, or one eye, the additional
compensation therefor shall be 15 per cent. of his said wages;
or if he be otherwise maimed or disfigured, then, for such
maiming or disfigurement, during the time it shall continue,
he shall receive therefor such proportion of 40 per cent. as
such maiming or disfigurement bears in depleted ability in
the employment to the relative loss of the members specified
herein; _Provided_, That in no case shall all of the payments
received herein exceed in any month the whole wages earned when
the injury occurs, nor shall the said 40 per cent. when all
received, or any portion thereof, and the said 60 per cent.
when all received, or any portion thereof, continue longer than
to make all sums aggregate $5000.

Sec. 4. _Repeal of other liabilities._ The right to
compensation and the remedy therefor, as herein specified,
shall be in lieu of all other causes of action for such
injuries and awards upon which they are based as to all persons
covered by this act, whether formerly authorized or allowed by,
or as the result of, either state, statute or common law, and
no other compensation, right of action, damages or liability,
either for such injuries or for any result thereof, either in
favor of those covered by this act or against such employer
based on state law, shall hereafter be allowed for such
injuries to any persons or for any of the injuries covered by
this act so long as this law shall remain in force, unless, and
then only to the extent, that this law shall be specifically
amended.

Sec. 5. _Conditions precedent to right of recovery._ That as a
condition precedent to such right to compensation, such employe
or the legal representatives thereof, as the case may be, shall
within ten days after knowledge of such injury, unless there be
valid excuse for delay and then immediately after such excuse
is removed, cause a written notice thereof in substantially
the form designated in paragraph ---- (form to be provided)
of this act, to be served upon the said employer by leaving
a copy thereof addressed to the employer with the person in
charge of such employe while he was so working, if that person
is still in said employ, or with some superior agent, officer
or person in charge of said business at any office thereof
within this State in the same way that a summons can now be
served; and in case of a dispute between the employe and the
said employer, or in case of the failure of such employer and
employe to agree upon such claim or in case of failure or
refusal of such employer to pay, such employe shall submit his
claim for compensation hereunder, both as to the nature of the
injuries and the amount to compensate therefor under this act,
to a board of three arbitrators, as hereinafter specified, in
substantial compliance with the form contained in section ----
hereof.

Sec. 6. _Board of arbitration and awards._ There is hereby
created a Board of Arbitration and Awards, known as "Board of
Awards" with jurisdiction throughout the State of Minnesota
to arbitrate the questions arising hereunder and make awards
consistent herewith, which is now and shall remain subdivided
into districts with the same numbers and co-ordinate with
the judicial districts of this State as they now are and may
hereafter be changed, which board shall consist of three
members from each judicial district, which members shall be
non-partisan in politics, appointed by .....................,
and hold their offices during a period of ............. years;
except for fraud, or want of jurisdiction the findings and
awards made herein shall be final and conclusive as to the
nature of the injuries and the amount of compensation.

Sec. 7. (The law shall provide for compensation, expenses and
secretary, and probably that the Clerk of Courts act as Clerk
and make annual report to Commissioner of Labor.)

Sec. 8. _Remedy._

(a) Every person claiming the benefits of compensation under
this act, may issue to the employer from whom he claims the
same a notice of claim in substantially the following form:

First: You are hereby notified that ...................... has
this day filed the original of this notice of claim against you
with the Clerk of the Board of Awards in District No. ........
and that you are required to answer the same with a copy served
upon the undersigned within ten days.

Second: Said ............................... was in your
employ as a ......................... at ..................
on or about the ....... day of ........ 19.... and received
an injury of the supposed general nature following:
.......................................................... by
reason of the following incident (describe it) and that such
injury arose in and out of the course of said employment and
has lasted more than ten days and it is claimed that you are
liable to pay compensation for .......... per cent. of the
wages which were $....... per ........ at the time of such
injury, and for ....... per cent. for maiming and crippling.

(b) Answer. The answer shall

1. Admit or deny the employment.

2. Admit or deny that an injury was received at the time and
place.

3. Admit or deny that the injury, if any, was in the course of
employment and that it arose out of the course of employment.

4. Set up the injury claimed if different from the injured's
claim.

5. Admit or deny or correct the amount of wages.

6. Give notice of any special claim to be urged to defeat
compensation.

(c) Reply. The reply shall so far as possible admit or deny the
specific statements of the answer which contradict or bar the
complaint.

(d) Hearing. As soon as the reply is filed with proof of
service the clerk shall set such claim for hearing in its order
at the earliest date possible and notify both parties by mail,
thereof.

Sec. 9. _Award._ The Board of Awards shall make its award upon
a full hearing, to both parties held after notice and shall
consider the whole record and may visit the premises if within
its district and make such award as it shall decide to be
consistent with the spirit and powers of this act, and in the
following form:

1. Title.

2. We find in the above case that the injured received injuries
arising in and growing out of the course of such employment
when he was receiving as wages the sum of $......... per
............ payable .................

3. That the injuries appear now to be and are as follows:
...........................................................
...........................................................

4. That for ................. disability the compensation
to be paid is hereby found and awarded against the employer
................... of ................. at ............ per
cent. of such wages payable to the following persons in the
respective proportions for ......... ........... and as said
wages were paid and (of injuries uncertain) ................
this proceeding is hereby adjourned to the ........ ........
day of ............... for further consideration.

Sec. 10. _How risk may be insured._ That any such employer,
or any association of employers, may keep the risks created
by this law fully covered by insurance, in associations, or
insurance companies approved by the insurance department of
this State, for policies covering the full liability under
this law, and thereby relieve themselves from any further
responsibility with respect to paying such compensation, and
if any such employer or employers shall so insure such risks
they shall be entitled to take and keep from the wages of their
laborers, on a pro rata basis, of the wages, .......... per
cent. of the amount necessary to pay the regular premiums for
carrying such insurance.

Sec. 11. All insurance and all benefits of compensation due or
to become due to any employe under this act shall be and remain
exempt from garnishment and all other forms of attachment.

Sec. 12. Provision defining the words and phrases, and covering
all tenses, pronouns and both sexes.

Sec. 13. Of course the jurisdictional features and all matters
of practice, rehearings, etc., must be worked out after we see
what substantive provisions are to be made.

CHAIRMAN MERCER: The reason for heading that, "Workers' Compensation Code," was to cover the constitutional provisions in some of the States, which prohibit a bill from covering more than one subject, which shall be expressed in its title, and the fact that the term "code" means a system of law. By the adoption of that scheme it was our intention to raise the point, so that if you agreed to that general idea you could adopt a law with a heading sufficiently broad to codify the law of your State on that question, to allow you to repeal such portions of the common law as you wanted to repeal as a part of that chapter, and not be subject to the limitations of the constitutions of a number of States which would prohibit your covering more than one law. Do you care to waste any time on the heading?

MR. DAWSON: I would like to ask one question about the heading and that is why the word "workers" was used instead of "workmen?"

CHAIRMAN MERCER: Like everything else, that was used to provoke discussion. Workmen's Compensation, or Workingmen's Compensation, seems to have a technical meaning in this field of legislation. It seems to be understood generally as covering this whole subject, and yet when you come to define your bill and outline it and cover it section by section, you must either leave something to the construction of the courts, or else you must make provision to the effect that workmen shall cover workwomen and children and boys and girls and everybody connected with it. It seems to me it would cover that point (although it seems to be revolutionary in form) if we used the term "workers," because that would include everybody.

MR. DAWSON: Your idea then was, Mr. Chairman, that the word "worker" is believed to have more comprehensive significance than the word "workmen," and that it would be certain to be so held by the courts?

CHAIRMAN MERCER: That was my own idea. I think I am sound on it, but I have tried enough lawsuits to know that a fellow is never sound until he is done. Shall we pass to the first section and leave it without any expression as to the heading?

MASON B. STARRING (Illinois): I would like to inquire in regard to