statute enacted for the safety of employees contributed to the injury or death of such employee. SEC. 5. That any contract, rule, regulation, or device whatsoever, the purpose or intent of which shall be to enable any common carrier to exempt itself from any liability created by this act, shall to that extent be void: Provided, That in any action brought against any such common carrier under or by virtue of any of the provisions of this act, such common carrier may set off therein any sum it has contributed or paid to any insurance, relief benefit, or indemnity that may have been paid to the injured employee or the person entitled thereto on account of the injury or death for which said action was brought. SEC. 6. That no action shall be maintained under this act unless commenced within two years from the day the cause of action accrued. SEC. 7. That the term "common carrier” as used in this act shall include the receiver or receivers or other persons or corporations charged with the duty of the management and operation of the business of a common carrier. SEC. 8. That nothing in this act shall be held to limit the duty or liability of common carriers or to impair the rights of their employees under any other act or acts of Congress, or to affect the prosecution of any pending proceeding or right of action under the act of Congress entitled "An act relating to liability of common carriers in the District of Columbia and Territories, and to common carriers engaged in commerce between the States and between the States and foreign nations to their employees," approved June eleventh, nineteen hundred and six. Approved, April 22, 1908. [PUBLIC-No. 382-76TH CONGRESS] [CHAPTER 685-1ST SESSION] AN ACT To amend the Employers' Liability Act. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That sections 1 and 4 of the Act entitled "An Act relating to the liability of common carriers by railroad to their employees in certain cases", approved April 22, 1908 (35 Stat. 65; U. S. C., title 45, secs. 51 and 54), be, and they are hereby, amended to read as follows: "SEC. 1. That every common carrier by railroad while engaging in commerce between any of the several States or Territories, or between any of the States and Territories, or between the District of Columbia and any of the States or Territories, or between the District of Columbia or any of the States or Territories and any foreign nation or nations, shall be liable in damages to any person suffering injury while he is employed by such carrier in such commerce, or, in case of the death of such employee, to his or her personal representative, for the benefit of the surviving widow or husband and children of such employee; and, if none, then of such employee's parents; and, if none, then of the next of kin dependent upon such employee, for such injury or death resulting in whole or in part from the negligence of any of the officers, agents, or employees of such carrier, or by reason of any defect or insufficiency, due to its negligence, in its cars, engines, appliances, machinery, track, roadbed, works, boats, wharves, or other equipment. "Any employee of a carrier, any part of whose duties as such employee shall be the furtherance of interstate or foreign commerce; or shall, in any way directly or closely and substantially, affect such commerce as above set forth shall, for the purposes of this Act, be considered as being employed by such carrier in such commerce and shall be considered as entitled to the benefits of this Act and of an Act entitled 'An Act relating to the liability of common carriers by railroad to their employees in certain cases' (approved April 22, 1908), as the same has been or may hereafter be amended." "SEC. 4. That in any action brought against any common carrier under or by virtue of any of the provisions of this Act to recover damages for injuries to, or the death of, any of its employees, such employee shall not be held to have assumed the risks of his employment in any case where such injury or death resulted in whole or in part from the negligence of any of the officers, agents, or employees of such carrier; and no employee shall be held to have assumed the risks of his employment in any case where the violation by such common carrier of any statute enacted for the safety of employees contributed to the injury or death of such employee." SEC. 2. That the first sentence of section 6, of the Act entitled "An Act relating to the liability of common carriers by railroad to their employees in certain cases", approved April 22, 1908 (35 Stat. 65; U. S. C., title 45, sec. 56), be, and it is hereby, amended to read as follows: "SEC. 6. That no action shall be maintained under this Act unless commenced within three years from the day the cause of action accrued." SEC. 3. That the Act entitled "An Act relating to the liability of common carriers by railroad to their employees in certain cases", approved April 22, 1908, as amended (U. S. C., title 45, ch. 2), be, and it is hereby, amended by adding an additional section thereto as follows: "SEC. 10. Any contract, rule, regulation, or device whatsoever, the purpose, intent, or effect of which shall be to prevent employees of any common carrier from furnishing voluntarily information to a person in interest as to the facts incident to the injury or death of any employee, shall be void, and whoever, by threat, intimidation, order, rule, contract, regulation, or device whatsoever, shall attempt to prevent any person from furnishing voluntarily such information to a person in interest, or whoever discharges or otherwise disciplines. or attempts to discipline any employee for furnishing voluntarily such information to a person in interest, shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by a fine of not more than $1,000 or imprisoned for not more than one year, or by both such fine and imprisonment, for each offense: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to void any contract, rule, or regulation with respect to any information contained in the files of the carrier, or other privileged or confidential reports. "If any provision of this Act is declared unconstitutional or the applicability thereof to any person or circumstances is held invalid, the validity of the remainder of the Act and the applicability of such provision to other persons and circumstances shall not be affected thereby." Approved, August 11, 1939. [PUBLIC-No. 117.] [H. R. 17263.] An Act To amend an act entitled "An act relating to the liability of common carriers by railroad to their employees in certain cases," approved April twenty-second, nineteen hundred and eight. Be it enacted by the Senate and Пouse of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That an act entitled "An act relating to the liability of common carriers by railroad to their employees in certain cases," approved April twenty-second, nineteen hundred and eight, be amended in section six so that said section shall read: "SEC. 6. That no action shall be maintained under this act unless commenced within two years from the day the cause of action accrued. "Under this act an action may be brought in a circuit court of the United States, in the district of the residence of the defendant, or in which the cause of action arose, or in which the defendant shall be doing business at the time of commencing such action. The jurisdiction of the courts of the United States under this act shall be con current with that of the courts of the several States, and no case arising under this act and brought in any state court of competent jurisdiction shall be removed to any court of the United States." SEC. 2. That said act be further amended by adding the following section as section nine of said act: 66 SEC. 9. That any right of action given by this act to a person suffering injury shall survive to his or her personal representative, for the benefit of the surviving widow or husband and children of such employee, and, if none, then of such employee's parents; and, if none, then of the next of kin dependent upon such employee, but in such cases there shall be only one recovery for the same injury." Approved, April 5, 1910. [PUBLIC-No. 176.J [H. R. 21844.] An Act Granting to certain employees of the United States the right to receive from it compensation for injuries sustained in the course of their employment. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That when, on or after August first, nineteen hundred and eight, any person employed by the United States as an artisan or laborer in any of its manufacturing establishments, arsenals, or navy-yards, or in the construction of river and harbor or fortification work or in hazardous employment on construction work in the reclamation of arid lands or the manage ment and control of the same, or in hazardous employment under the Isthmian Canal Commission, is injured in the course of such employment, such employee shall be entitled to receive for one year thereafter, unless such employee, in the opinion of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, be sooner able to resume work, the same pay as if he continued to be employed, such payment to be made under such regulations as the Secretary of Commerce and Labor may prescribe: Provided, That no compensation shall be paid under this act where the injury is due to the negligence or misconduct of the employee injured, nor unless said injury shall continue for more than fifteen days. All questions of negligence or misconduct shall be determined by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor. SEC. 2. That if any artisan or laborer so employed shall die during the said year by reason of such injury received in the course of such employment, leaving a widow, or a child or children under sixteen. years of age, or a dependent parent, such widow and child or children and dependent parent shall be entitled to receive, in such portions and under such regulations as the Secretary of Commerce and Labor may prescribe, the same amount, for the remainder of the said year, that said artisan or laborer would be entitled to receive as pay if such employee were alive and continued to be employed: Provided, That if the widow shall die at any time during the said year her portion of said amount shall be added to the amount to be paid to the remaining beneficiaries under the provisions of this section, if there be any. SEC. 3. That whenever an accident occurs to any employee embraced within the terms of the first section of this act, and which results in death or a probable incapacity for work, it shall be the duty of the official superior of such employee to at once report such accí dent and the injury resulting therefrom to the head of his Bureau or independent office, and his report shall be immediately communicated through regular official channels to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor. Such report shall state, first, the time, cause, and nature of the accident and injury and the probable duration of the injury resulting therefrom; second, whether the accident arose out of or in the course of the injured person's employment; third, whether the accident was due to negligence or misconduct on the part of the employee injured; fourth, any other matters required by such rules and regulations as the Secretary of Commerce and Labor may prescribe. The head of each Department or independent office shall have power, however, to charge a special official with the duty of making such reports. SEC. 4. That in the case of any accident which shall result in death, the persons entitled to compensation under this act or their legal representatives shall, within ninety days after such death, file with the Secretary of Commerce and Labor an affidavit setting forth their relationship to the deceased and the ground of their claim for compensation under the provisions of this act. This shall be accompanied by the certificate of the attending physician setting forth the fact and cause of death, or the nonproduction of the certificate shall be satisfactorily accounted for. In the case of incapacity for work lasting more than fifteen days, the injured party desiring to take the benefit of this act shall, within a reasonable period after the expiration of such time, file with his official superior, to be forwarded through regular official channels to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, an affidavit setting forth the grounds of his claim for compensation, to be accompanied by a certificate of the attending physician as to the cause and nature of the injury and probable duration of the incapac ity, or the nonproduction of the certificate shall be satisfactorily accounted for. If the Secretary of Commerce and Labor shall find from the report and affidavit or other evidence produced by the claimant or his or her legal representatives, or from such additional investigation as the Secretary of Commerce and Labor may direct, that a claim for compensation is established under this act, the compensation to be paid shall be determined as provided under this act and approved for payment by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor. SEC. 5. That the employee shall, whenever and as often as required by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, at least once in six months, submit to medical examination, to be provided and paid for under the direction of the Secretary, and if such employee refuses to submit to or obstructs such examination his or her right to compensation shall be lost for the period covered by the continuance of such refusal or objection. SEC. 6. That payments under this act are only to be made to the beneficiaries or their legal representatives other than assignees, and shall not be subject to the claims of creditors. SEC. 7. That the United States shall not exempt itself from liability under this act by any contract, agreement, rule, or regulation, and any such contract, agreement, rule, or regulation shall be pro tanto void. SEC. 8. That all acts or parts of acts in conflict herewith or providing a different scale of compensation or otherwise regulating its payment are hereby repealed Approved, May 30, 1908. |