OHIO.

Compensation of workmen for injuries-State insurance fund.

[Section 871-9 of the act, p. 95, acts of 1913, providing for the appointment of the Industrial Commission of Ohio, is amended by an act, p. 157, acts of 1917, so as to read as follows:]

SECTION 871-9. The Industrial Commission of Ohio shall be in continuous session and open for the transaction of business during all business hours of each and every day, excepting Sundays and legal holidays. The sessions of said commission shall be open to the public and shall stand and be adjourned without further notice thereof on its record. All of the proceedings of said commission shall be shown on its record, which shall be a public record, and all voting shall be had by calling each member's name by the secretary, and each member's vote shall be recorded on the record of proceedings as cast. Said commission shall keep a separate record of its proceedings relative to claims coming before it for compensation for injured and the dependents of killed employees which record shall contain its findings and the award in each such claim for compensation considered by it and in all such claims the reason or reasons for the allowance or rejection thereof shall be stated in said record. Said commission may hold sessions at or in any place in the State of Ohio.

[The compensation law of the State is amended in several par ticulars. Sections 1465-50, 1465-54 and 1465-56 are amended by an act, p. 157, so as to read as follows:]

SEC. 1465-50. In claims filed before the Industrial Commission of Ohio by injured and the dependents of killed employees on account of injury or death sustained by such employees in the course of their employment, said commission may cause depositions of witnesses residing within or without the State to be taken in the manner prescribed by law for the taking of depositions in civil actions in the court of common pleas.

SEC. 1465-54. It shall be the duty of the Industrial Commission of Ohio, in the exercise of the powers and discretion conferred upon it in the preceding section, ultimately to fix and maintain, for each class of qccupation, or industry, the lowest possible rates of premium consistent with the maintenance of a solvent State insurance fund and the creation and maintenance of a reasonable surplus, after the payment of legitimate claims for injury and death that it may authorize to be paid from the State insurance fund for the benefit of injured and the dependents of killed employees; and, in order that said object may be accomplished, said commission shall observe the following requirements in classifying occupations or industries and fixing the rates of premium for the risks of the same:

Sessions,

Records.

Depositions.

Premium

rates.

1. It shall keep an accurate account of the money paid in pre- Accounts. miums by each of the several classes of occupations or industries, and the losses on account of injuries and death of employees thereof, and it shall also keep an account of the money received from each individual employer and the amount of losses incurred against the State insurance fund on account of injuries and death of the employees of such employer.

2. Ten per cent of the money that has heretofore been paid Surplus into the State insurance fund and ten per cent of all that may fund. hereafter be paid into such fund shall be set aside for the creation of a surplus until such surplus shall amount to the sum of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) after which time the sum

Revisions.

Custodian.

Contractors' employees.

of five per cent of all the money paid into the State insurance fund shall be credited to such surplus fund, until such time as, in the judgment of said commission, such surplus shall be sufficiently large to guarantee a solvent State insurance fund.

3. On the first day of July, 1917, and annually thereafter, a revision of rates shall be made in accordance with the experience of said commission in the administration of the law as shown by the accounts kept as provided herein; and said commission shall adopt rules governing said rate revisions, the object of which shall be to make an equitable distribution of losses among the several classes of occupation or industry, which rules shall be general in their application.

SEC. 1465-56. The treasurer of State shall be the custodian of the State insurance fund and all disbursements therefrom shall be paid by him upon vouchers authorized by the Industrial Commission of Ohio and signed by any two members of said commission; or, such vouchers may bear the facsimile signatures of the members of said commission printed thereon, and the signature of the deputy or other employee of said commission charged with the duty of keeping the account of the State insurance fund and with the preparation of vouchers for the payment of compensation to injured and the dependents of killed employees.

[Section 1465-61 is amended by the same act by substituting the word "and" for the word "or," after the word "casual" in subsection 2; also by adding a new subsection to read as follows:] 3. Every person in the service of any independent contractor or subcontractor who has failed to pay into the State insurance fund the amount of premium determined and fixed by the Industrial Commission of Ohio for his employment or occupation, or to elect to pay compensation direct to his injured and to the dependents of his killed employees, as provided in section 1465-69, General Code, shall be considered as the employee of the person who has entered into such contract, whether written or verbal, with such independent contractor unless such employees, or their legal representatives or beneficiaries elect, after injury or death, to regard such independent contractor as the employer.

[Section 1465-69 is amended by the same act so as to read as follows:] Employers' SEC. 1465-69. Except as hereinafter provided, every employer contributions. mentioned in subdivision two or [of] section 1465-60, General Code, shall, in the month of January, 1914, and semi-annually thereafter, pay into the State insurance fund the amount of premium determined and fixed by the Industrial Commission of Ohio for the employment or occupation of such employer the amount of which premium to be so paid by each such employer to be determined by the classifications, rules and rates made and published by said commission; and such employer shall semiannually thereafter pay such further sum of money into the State insurance fund as inay be ascertained to be due from him by applying the rules of said commission, and a receipt or certificate certifying that such payment has been made shall immediately be mailed to such employer by the Industrial Commission of Ohio, which receipt or certificate, attested by the seal of said commission shall be prima facie evidence of the payment of such premium.

Existing subscribers.

Provided, however, That as to all employers who were subscribers to the State insurance fund prior to January 1, 1914, or who may first become subscribers to said fund in any other months of January or July, the foregoing provisions for the payment of such premiums in the month of January, 1914, and semiannually thereafter shall not apply, but such semiannual premiums shall be paid by such employers from time to time upon the expiration of the respective periods for which payments into the fund have been made by them: And provided further, That such employers who Self-insurers. will abide by the rules of the Industrial Commission of Ohio and as may be of suflicient financial ability to render certain the payment of compensation to injured employees or to the dependents of killed employees, and the furnishing of medical, surgical,

nursing and hospital attention and services and medicines, and funeral expenses equal to or greater than is provided for in section 1465-78 to 1465-89, General Code, and who do not desire to insure the payment thereof or indemnify themselves against loss sustained by the direct payment thereof, may, upon a finding of such fact by the Industrial Commission of Ohio, elect to pay individually such compensation, and furnish such medical, surgical, nursing and hospital services and attention and funeral expenses directly to such injured or the dependents of such killed employees; and the Industrial Commission of Ohio may require such security or bond from said employers as it may deem proper, adequate and sufficient to compel, or secure to such injured employees, or to the dependents of such employees as may be killed, the payment of the compensation and expenses herein provided for, which shall in no event be less than that paid or furnished out of the State insurance fund, in similar cases, to injured employees or to dependents of killed employees, who [se] employers contribute to said fund; and should municipal or other bonds be accepted by said commission as security for said payments, such bonds shall be deposited with the treasurer of State whose duty it shall be to have custody thereof and to retain the same in his possession according to the conditions prescribed by the order of said commission accepting the same as security, and said treasurer shall retain possession of said- bonds until such time as he may be directed by said commission as to the mode and manner of his disposition of the same; and said commission shall make and publish rules and regulations governing the mode and manner of making application and the nature and extent of the proof required to justify such finding of fact by said commission as to permit such election by such employers, which rules and regulations shall be general in their application, one of which rules shall provide that all employers, electing directly to compensate their injured and the dependents of their killed employees as hereinbefore provided, shall pay into the State insurance fund such amount or amounts as are required to be credited to the surplus in paragraph two of section 1465-54, General Code. The Industrial Commission of Ohio may at any time change or modify its findings of fact herein provided for, if in its judgment such action is necessary or desirable to secure or assure a strict compliance with all of the provisions of the law in reference to the payment of compensation and the furnishing of medical, nurse, and hospital services and medicines and funeral expenses to injured and the dependents of killed employees.

[Section 1465-80 is amended by the same act by adding to the first sentence the words, "and such compensation shall be in addition to the compensation allowed to the claimant for the period of temporary total disability resulting from such injury;" also by inserting before the words "to wit" in the second sentence the words, "and shall be in addition to the compensation allowed the claimant for the period of temporary total disability resulting from such injury."

Section 1465-82 is amended by an act, p. 450, by extending the period of death benefits from six years to eight, by fixing the minimum where there are persons wholly dependent at $2.000 instead of $1,500, by increasing the maximum in all cases from $3,750 to $5,000.

Section 1465-87 is amended by an act, p. 157, so as to read as follows:]

SEC. 1465-87. The commission, under special circumstances, and when the same is deemed advisable may commute payments of compensation or benefits to one or more lump-sum payments. [Section 1465-89 is amended by an act, p. 528, so as to read as follows:]

Lump sums.

expenses.

SEC. 1465-89. In addition to the compensation provided for Medical, etc., herein, the Industrial Commission of Ohio shall disburse and pay from the State insurance fund, such amounts for medical, nurse and hospital services and medicine as it may deem proper, not,

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however, in any instance, to exceed the sum of two hundred dollars ualess in unusual cases, wherein it is clearly shown that the actually necessary medical, nurse and hospital services and medicines exceed the amount of two hundred dollars, such commission shall have authority to pay such additional amounts upon a satisfactory finding of facts being made and upon unanimous approval by such commission, such finding of facts to be set forth upon the minutes; and, in case death ensues from the injury, reasonable funeral expenses shall be disbursed and paid from the fund in an amount not to exceed the sum of one hundred and fifty dollars, and such commission shall have full power to adopt rules and regulations with respect to furnishing medical, nurse and hospital service and medicine to injured employees entitled thereto, and for the payment therefor.

[Section 1465-90 is amended by an act, p. 157, so as to read as follows:]

SEC. 1465-90. The commission shall have full power and authority to hear and determine all questions within its jurisdiction, and its decision thereon shall be final: Provided, however, In case the final action of such commission denies the right of the claimant to participate at all or to continue to participate in such fund on the ground that the injury was self-inflicted or on the ground that the accident did not arise in the course of employment, or upon any other ground going to the basis of the claimant's right, then the claimant, within thirty (30) days after the notice of the final action of such commission, may, by filing his appeal in the common pleas court of the county wherein the injury was inflicted, be entitled to a trial in the ordinary way, and be entitled to a jury if he demands it. In such a proceeding, the prosecuting attorney of the county, without additional compensation, shall represent the Industrial Commission of Ohio, and he shall be notified by the clerk forthwith of the filing of such appeal. Within thirty days after filing his appeal, the appellant shall file a petition in the ordinary form against such commission as defendant, and further pleadings shall be had in said cause, according to the rules of civil procedure, and the court, or the jury, under the instructions of the court, if a jury is demanded, shall determine the right of the claimant; and if they determine the right in his favor, shall fix his compensation within the limits under the rules prescribed in this act; and any final judgment so obtained shall be paid by the Industrial Commission of Ohio out of the State insurance fund in the same manner as such awards are paid by such commission. In claims for compensation, medical, hospital and nursing services and medicines and funeral expenses brought before said commission, by an injured employee or by his dependents in the event of his death as the result of injury sustained in the course of employment, in which said commission denies the right of claimant or claimants to receive or to continue to receive compensation from an employer who has duly elected to pay compensation, medical, hospital and nursing services, and medicines and funeral expenses direct to his injured and the dependents of his killed employees on the ground that the injury was self-inflicted, or, on the ground that the injury did not arise in the course of employment, or upon any other ground going to the basis of the claimant's right, the claimant or claimants shall have the right to appeal to the common pleas court of the county wherein the injury was inHicted, in the same manner as in claims against the State insurance fund and as heretofore prescribed in this section, except that the employer shall be the defendant in such proceedings; and if a verdict is rendered in favor of the claimant or claimants, compensation shall be fixed within the limits under the rules prescribed in this act; and any final judgment so obtained shall be paid by the employer. Such judgment shall have the same preference against the assets of the employer in favor of the claimant or claimants as is now, or may hereafter be, allowed by