COMPENSATION LAW IS VICIOUS
(Continued from Page 1)
Act—is this: a workman, let us say,
loses a leg; under the law he is
entitled to $1440; is he paid that
sum? No! The employer sits tight;
after a while the workman gets
around and asks for his money; he is
cooly told that the employer’s law
yer advises against payment as he
has a good defense; the cripple con
sults a lawyer, and is told that if he
sues he can get only $1440, and
that it will cost him half or a
third of that sum for expenses of
suit. Meanwhile the company’s de
tective is keeping tab on the vic
tims’ movements, and can make a
shrewd guess as to the gist of the
legal advice he has received. So at
the logical moment, an invitation is
extended to call at the employer’s
office, and there an offer of some
thing like half the law provides is
made, and the poor devil accepts,
because that is all he will realize
anyway, at the end of a successful
suit. And the law expressely makes
such settlement binding.
Third, the schedule of payments
are radically defective. Take the
case of a man earning four dollars
a day, who receives a severe burn
that confines him for a year in agony
and leaves him disfigured for life,
He gets only $366, or one half
pay for six months. This illus
tration is typical of many of the
worst injuries for which the law af
fords no redress, or rather destroys
all redress. Add to this that the
employer is under no obligations to
furnish medical or hospital treatment
and you begin to realize how wonder
ful and successful it is from the
standpoint of those who drew it and
put it through.
Fourth, in claims for death, the
claims must be put in by the bene
ficiary in 120 days or it is for ever
barred. This is an obvious outrage.
Laborers in Alaska are often trans
ients, coming from distant towns.
Neither they or their dependents
know anything of the law. Assum
ing such a laborer is killed, and
the news of his death slowly reach
es his people. After the first shock
of the news, they make inquiries;
how long will it take them ordinar
ily, to learn of the law and its re
quirements? It is safe to say that
nine tenths of such cases the claim
is barred before the beneficiary—
if you can call them beneficiaries—
ever learn of its evistence. And this
Is exactly what the makers of the
law intended.
Fifth, the law makes no provis
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ion of when the pitances payable un
der the law are to be paid. It is a
sort of Kathleen Movourneen prom
ise. “It may be for years and it
may be never.” This is evidently
intended to take advantage of the
man:s needs to force a settlement on
the company’s terms.
Sixth, the workman is denied com
pensation, and justly, if his injury is
caused by his own wilful act. But
there is no similar clause denying
the benefit of the act to the employ
er who wilfully causes the injury.
In cases where the injury is caused
by the employer failing to observe
the safety appliance laws, or is guil
ty of wilful misconduct, or gross
negligence, the damages to be paid
the injured emplayee should not be
limited. In other words the law
shouldn’t put a premium on the neg
ligence of the employer.
These are only a few of the radi
cal defects in the law as it stands.
There are others which will no
doubt suggest themselves to the leg
islature when the subject comes up.
But enough has been sa.id to show
i
the extent of the practical joke play
ed on employees.
In the meantime the employers
and their attorneys are wilfully see
ing that none of the newspapers
controlled by them mention the sub
ject. But the Gleam will continue
to cry out against this and other
abuses as it sees them. If it is
wrongf in its conclusions, its error
will be readily shown, and no harm
is done. If it is alright, then it is
rendering a public service to the
Territory.
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