SUMMARY OF FOREIGN WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION ACTS. To distinguish them from employers' liability laws, the term "workmen's compensation laws" is used to designate those acts which provide for the award of fixed sums to employees injured by industrial accidents, without the necessity of litigation and without reference to the question of negligence upon which employers' liability acts are based. It is provided in most such laws, however, that gross negligence on the part of the injured person will bar his right to compensation, while on the other hand such negligence on the part of the employer sometimes gives rise to a right to increased compensation. Usually the injuries must cause disablement for a specified number of days or weeks before compensation becomes due. The industries usually covered by the acts are manufacturing, mining and quarrying, transportation, building and engineering work, and in some countries agriculture, forestry, and navigation. In two countries they are limited to mining. In Belgium and Great Britain the laws apply to practically all employments. In Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Luxemburg, Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Spain, and Sweden only wage-earners, and in some cases those exposed to the same risks, such as overseers and technical experts, come within the scope of the law. On the other hand, in France, Great Britain, the British colonies, and Hungary the laws apply to salaried employees and workmen equally. Overseers and technical experts earning more than a prescribed amount are excluded in Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Luxemburg, and Russia. Employees of the state, provincial, and local administrations usually come within the provisions of the acts. The entire burden rests upon the employer in all but six countries, Austria, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Luxemburg, and New South Wales, where the employees bear part of the expense. The laws in every case fix the compensation to be paid, and with but one or two unimportant exceptions the compensation is based upon the wages received by the injured person. It consists of allowances for temporary disability, and annual pensions or lump-sum payments for permanent disability or death, to which are added frequently the expenses of medical and surgical treatment and a funeral benefit. The acts of nearly all of the countries are framed with the view of obviating the necessity for instituting legal proceedings. If dis. putes arise the acts specify the necessary procedure for settlement by special arbitration tribunals or by ordinary law courts. In most countries the adoption of the law carried with it the abrogation of all rights under liability laws for the persons concerned; in some countries the injured employee retains the right to sue under the general liability laws in cases of gross negligence on the part of the employer; while in a few cases the older liability laws are left undisturbed with the right to choose either method of compensation. So far as the method of organization of insurance is concerned, the countries may be divided into two large groups, according to whether insurance is compulsory or voluntary. I. COMPULSORY INSURANCE. Two forms of compulsory insurance are differentiated-compulsory insurance and compulsion to insure; one enforcing compulsory insurance in prescribed institutions, the other enforcing the obligation to insure, but leaving free the choice of the insurance institution. A. Compulsory insurance in prescribed institutions. 1. In a government institution with a monopoly of insurance: Norway, one state insurance bureau for all industries. This is the only country where the entire insurance is concentrated in one government office. 2. In employers' compulsory mutual associations, controlled by the State. a. Organized on territorial lines. (1) Luxemburg, one institution, for all industries. b. Organized on industry lines. (1) Germany, 66 industrial institutions, each covering the entire country for one group of industries, except that some industries have several associations, each covering a specified area; in addition there are 48 agricultural institutions. (2) Greece and New South Wales, where the laws apply to mining only; each country has a special miners' fund. B. Compulsory insurance with choice of insurance institutions. 1. Private companies or mutual associations with state institutions competing. a. Italy has the National Industrial Accident Insurance Institution; except that for navigation and for the Sicilian sulphur mines, compulsory mutual associations have been created by special legislation. b. Netherlands has the Royal Insurance Bank. The employers may insure in private insurance companies or may be permitted to carry their own insurance, but all compensation is paid by the Royal Insurance Bank which deals with the employer or insurance company. 2. Private companies or mutual associations without state institution competing. Finland, except that for seamen a special compulsory em*ployers' mutual association under strict government control has been established by special law. II. VOLUNTARY INSURANCE. A. Private companies or mutual associations with state institution competing. 1. Sweden, with State Insurance Institute. 2. France, with National Accident Insurance Fund, which, however, is not permitted to provide insurance against temporary disability. Compulsory insurance is provided for seamen in a special government institution. B. Private companies or mutual associations without state competition. 1. Belgium, while the law specifies that the National Retirement Fund must provide accident insurance, this provision of the law has never been put into operation. 2. Denmark, where insurance is voluntary, except that the law requires compulsory insurance of seamen either in mutual associations or in insurance companies, and where a state institution exists for voluntary insurance of fishermen and seamen not covered by the compulsory law. 3. Great Britain and the British colonies. 4. Russia, except for compulsory insurance of miners employed by the State or the Crown. 5. Spain. Wherever there is compulsory insurance in prescribed institutions controlled by the state, there is of course no question as to the security of payments. Such is the case in Norway, where a government bureau provides the insurance. In Germany, Austria, Hungary, Luxemburg, and Netherlands the law either specifically states or implies the guarantee of the solvency of the institutions providing the insurance. In Netherlands the injured workman is protected by the equivalent of insurance in the Royal Insurance Bank, irrespective of the institution in which the employer carries the insurance; the uninsured employer and the private insurance companies are required to give satisfactory guarantees to the Royal Insurance Bank. In Greece the payments are guaranteed by the national miners' fund. 62717°-No. 90-10-19 The second method of state guarantee is by a special national fund, from which the compensation is paid in cases of insolvency either of the employer or of the insurance carrier. The sources of revenue of these funds show considerable differences. In Italy, notwithstanding the system of compulsory insurance, a fund has been organized under the supervision of the Government Bank of Deposits and Loans, supported by fines for noncompliance with requirement to insure, or other fines, and by the compensation due in fatal cases but not paid because of absence of survivors. In France the guarantee fund is managed by the National Old Age Retirement Fund and is supported by special taxes upon all employers covered by the act, but this fund guarantees pension payments only while compensation for temporary disability is secured by a preferred claim on the assets of the employer. In Belgium the guarantee fund is managed by the National Retirement Fund and is supported by a tax levied only upon those employers who do not carry insurance. Where no state guarantee exists guarantees must be exacted from insurance companies or from the individual employer. Wherever insurance is either voluntary or there is a choice of insurance institutions, the Government protects the insured employee by requiring the insurance company to maintain proper reserves or to make guarantee deposits with the Government, or by both methods combined. In the case of uninsured employees, their interests are usually protected by giving them a preferred claim upon the assets of the employer. In certain countries, where there is no compulsory insurance, the employer is not permitted to carry the liability for continuous payment of pensions in cases of death or permanent disability, but must provide for such payments through insurance institutions. In Belgium both reserves and guarantee deposits are exacted; in addition the capitalized value of pensions must be deposited in the National Retirement Fund. There is, therefore, no necessity for giving the injured employee a preferred claim on the assets of the employer. Finland requires the payment of the capitalized value of the pension to an insurance company in cases where no insurance has been taken. The guarantee of the pension payments of the uninsured employer is limited to a preferred claim upon his assets in case of insolvency in the following countries: Denmark, Great Britain, Russia, Sweden, and the British colonies. In Spain both reserves and deposits are required from insurance carriers, but in case of uninsured employers no especial provision is made in case of insolvency. Compensation laws have been enacted in 26 foreign States, and are summarized in the following pages. The laws of Switzerland and of New Brunswick covering compensation for industrial |