such other State or Federal agencies reimbursements from or to the fund, in accordance with arrangements entered into pursuant to subsection (a) of this section.

"(c) The administration of this Act and of other State and Federal unemployment-compensation and public-employment-service laws will be promoted by cooperation between the District and such other States and the appropriate Federal agencies in exchanging services and making available facilities and information. The Board is therefore authorized to make such investigations, secure and transmit such information, make available such services and facilities, and exercise such of the other powers provided herein with respect to the administration of this Act as it deems necessary or appropriate to facilitate the administration of any such unemployment-compensation or public-employment-service law, and in like manner to accept and utilize information, services, and facilities made available to the District by the agency charged with the administration of any such other unemployment-compensation or public-employment-service law.

"(d) To the extent permissible under the laws and Constitution of the United States, the Board is authorized to enter into or cooperate in arrangements whereby facilities and services provided under this Act and facilities and services provided under the unemployment-compensation law of any foreign government may be utilized for the taking of claims and the payment of benefits under the employment-security law of the District or under a similar law of such government.

"RECORDS AND REPORTS

"SEO. 17. (a) Every employing unit, whether or not liable to pay contributions under section 3 hereof, shall keep such true and accurate work records with respect to all individuals employed by it as the Board may prescribe. Such records shall be open to inspection by the Board and shall be subject to being copied by the Board or their authorized representative at any reasonable time and as often as may be necessary.

"(b) The Board may require from any employing unit any sworn or unsworn reports in connection with its business, covering employment, employees, wages, earnings, unemployment and related matters, as the Board deems necessary to the effective administration of this Act. Except as hereinbefore provided in section 13 (f) of this Act, information thus obtained may not be divulged. Any person who violates any provision of this section or section 13 (f) of this Act shall be fined not less than $20 nor more than $200 or imprisoned not longer than ninety days, or both.

"PROTECTION OF RIGHTS AND BENEFITS

"SEC. 18. (a) No agreement by any individual to waive any of his rights under this Act, or to pay any part of the contribution payable by his employer with respect to his or any other individual's employment, shall be valid; nor shall any employer make, require, or permit any deduction from the wages payable to his employees for the pur

pose of paying any part of the contributions required of the employer under this Act, or require or attempt to induce any individual to waive any right he may acquire under this Act. Any employer who violates any provision of this subsection shall, for each such offense, be fined not less than $100 nor more than $1,000 or be imprisoned not more than six months, or both.

"(b) No assignment, pledge, or encumbrance of any right to benefits which are or may become due or payable under this Act shall be valid or enforceable; and the right to any such benefits shall be exempt from levy, execution, attachment, or any other remedy whatsoever provided for the collection of debt; and the benefits received by any individual so long as they are not mingled with other funds of the recipient shall be exempt from any remedy whatsoever for the collection of all debts except debts accrued for necessaries furnished to such individual, his spouse, or his dependents during the time when such individual was unemployed.

"(c) No individual seeking to establish a claim for benefits shall be charged any fee whatsoever by the Board or its representatives, or by the court or any officer thereof. Any individual claiming benefits in any proceeding before the Board or its representative or the court may be represented by counsel or other duly authorized agent; but no such counsel or agent shall either charge or receive for such services more than an amount approved by the Board. Any person who violates any provision of this subsection shall, for each such offense, be fined not more than $500 or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.

"PENALTIES

"SEC. 19. (a) Whoever makes a false statement or representation knowing it to be false, or knowingly fails to disclose a material fact, to obtain or increase any benefit or other payment provided for in this Act for himself or any other individual, shall, for each such offense, be fined not more than $100 or imprisoned not more than sixty days, or both.

"(b) Any employing unit, and any officer or agent of any employing unit or any other person, who furnishes a false record or makes a false statement or representation, knowing it to be false, or who knowingly fails to disclose a material fact to avoid the payment of any or all of the contributions required of such employing unit under this Act, or to prevent or reduce the payment of benefits to any individual entitled thereto, or who fails or refuses to pay the contributions or other payment or to furnish any reports required of him under this Act, shall for each such offense be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than six months, or both. For purposes of this subsection an officer of a corporation charged with any duty required by this Act shall be personally liable to prosecution under this section. "(c) Any person who shall willfully violate any provision of this Act or any rule or regulation thereunder, the violation of which is made unlawful or the observance of which is required under the terms of this Act, and for which a penalty is neither prescribed herein nor provided by any other applicable statute, shall be punished by a fine of not more than $200 or by imprisonment for not longer than sixty days, or by both such fine and imprisonment,

and each day such violation continues shall be deemed to be a separate offense.

"(d) Any person who, by reason of his fraud, has received any sum as benefits under this Act to which he is not entitled shall, in the discretion of the Board, be liable to repay such sum to the Board, to be deposited in the fund; be liable to have such sum deducted from any future benefits payable to him under this Act; or may have such sum waived in the discretion of the Board. If any person, other than by reason of his fraud, is paid any sum as benefits under this Act, to which he was not entitled, he shall not be liable to repay such sum, but in the discretion of the Board be liable to have such sum deducted from any future benefits payable to him with respect to the benefit year current at the time of such receipt: Provided, however, That no such recoupment from future. benefits shall be had if such sum is received by such person without fault on his part and such recoupment would defeat the purpose of this Act or would be against equity and good conscience; or in the discretion of the Board such recoupment has been waived. In any case in which, under this subsection, a claimant is liable to repay to the Board any sum, such sum may be collected without interest, by civil action in the name of the Board. The disbursing officer and certifying officer of the Board shall not be held liable for any amounts certified or paid by them, in good faith, prior to the effective date of this Act, or subsequent thereto, to any person where the refund, recoupment, adjustment, or recovery of such amount is waived under this subsection or where such refund, recoupment, adjustment, or recovery under this subsection is not completed prior to the death of the person against whom such refund, recoupment, adjustment, or recovery has been authorized.

"DISPOSITION OF FINES

"SEC. 20. The amount of all fines collected pursuant to the provisions of this Act shall be turned over to the Board and by it paid into the District unemployment fund.

"REPRESENTATION IN COURT

"SEC. 21. (a) On the request of the Board the United States attorney for the District of Columbia shall represent the Board in any action in court arising under this Act, or in connection with the administration and enforcement of its provisions, or the rules and regulations authorized thereunder, including actions for the collection of contributions due hereunder; but in any civil action the Board may be represented by its own counsel.

"(b) Violations of any provision of this Act shall be prosecuted by the United States attorney for the District of Columbia.

"ALL AUDITS BY DISTRICT AUDITOR

"SEC. 22. All audits herein prescribed shall be made by the District auditor in the same manner as are all other audits of the District.

"RIGHT TO AMEND OR REPEAL

"SEC. 23. All rights, privileges, or immunities conferred by this Act or by acts done pursuant thereto shall exist subject to the power of Congress to amend or repeal this Act at any time.

"SEPARABILITY OF PROVISIONS

"SEC. 24. If any provisions of this Act, or the application thereof to any person or circumstances, is held invalid, the remainder of the Act, and the application of such provision to other persons or circumstances, shall not be affected thereby.

"EFFECTIVE DATE

"SEC. 25. This Act shall take effect as of 12:01 antemeridian on the first day of the next succeeding calendar quarter following the enactment of this Act.

"SHORT TITLE

"SEC. 26. This Act may be cited as the 'District of Columbia Unemployment Compensation Act'."

Approved June 4, 1943.

[PUBLIC LAW 81-78TH CONGRESS]

[CHAPTER 133-1ST SESSION]
[H. J. Res. 136]

JOINT RESOLUTION

Making appropriations for advances to States for certain Federal grants for the first quarter of the fiscal year 1944.

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there are hereby appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, such sums as may be necessary for making for the first quarter of the fiscal year 1944 (1) grants to States for old-age assistance, (2) grants to States for aid to dependent children, (3) grants to States for aid to the blind, and (4) grants to States for unemployment compensation administration: Provided, That the obligations incurred and expenditures made for each of such purposes under the authority of this joint resolution shall be charged to the appropriation therefor in the Labor-Federal Security Appropriation Act, 1944.

Approved June 19, 1943.

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