(Acts of Assembly, 1895-1896, chap. 425, p. 455),
and March 5, 1900 (Acts of Assembly, 1899-1900,
Chap. 425.—An ACT to amend and re-enact sections 2, 45, 46, 61 and 69 of
an act entitled an act to prevent industrial accidents; to provide medical
and surgical care for injured employees; to establish rates of compensa-
tion for personal injuries or deaths sustained by employees in the course
of employment; to provide methods for insuring the payment of such
compensation; to create an industrial commission for the administration
of this act, and to prescribe the powers and duties of such commission;
to levy a tax and appropriate funds for the administration of this act,
which became a law March 21, 1918. {[S B 38]

Approved March 24, 1922.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That sec-
tions two, forty-five, forty-six, sixty-one, and sixty-nine of the above
entitled act, known as “The Virginia Workmen’s Compensation Act,”
be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:
Section 2. In this act unless the context otherwise requires:

(a) “Employers” shall include the State and any municipal cor-
poration within the State or any political division thereof, and any
individual, firm, association or corporation, or the receiver or trustee
of the same, or the legal representative of a deceased employer, using
the service of another for pay. If the employer is insured it shall
include his insurer so far as applicable.

(b) “Employee” shall include every person, including a minor,
in the service of another under any contract of hire or apprenticeship,
written or implied, except one whose employment is not in the usual
course of the trade, business, occupation or profession of the em-
ployer; and as relating to those so employed by the State the term
“employee” shall include all officers and employees thereof, except
only such as are elected by the people, or by the general assembly, or
appointed by the governor either with or without the confirmation of
the senate; as relating to municipal corporations and political divi-
sions of the State, the term “employee” shall include all officers
and employees thereof, except such as are elected by the people or
elected by the council, or other governing body of said municipal
corporation or political division, who act in purely administrative
capacities and to serve for a definite term of office. Policemen and
firemen except policemen and firemen in cities containing more than
one hundred and seventy thousand inhabitants shall be deemed to be
employees of the respective cities, counties or towns in which their
services are employed and by whom their salaries are paid. Any
reference to an employee who has been injured shall, when the
employee is dead, include also his legal representatives, dependents
and other persons to whom compensation may be payable.

Section 45. Whenever any weekly payment has been continued
for not less than six weeks, the liability therefor may, in unusual
cases, where the parties agree and the industrial commission deems
it to be to the best interests of the employee or his dependents, or
where it will prevent undue hardships on the employer, or his in-
surance carrier, without prejudicing the interests of the employee or
his dependents, be redeemed, in whole or in part, by the payment
by the employer of a lump sum which shall be fixed by the commis-
sion, but in no case to exceed the commutable value of the future
installments which may be due under this act. The commission,
however, in its discretion, may at any time, in the case of a minor
who has received permanently disabling injuries, either partial or
total, provide that he be compensated in whole or in part by the
payment of a lump sum, the amount of which shall be fixed by the
commission, but in no case to exceed the commutable value of the
future installments which may be due under this act.

Section 46. Whenever the industrial commission deems it expe-
dient, any lump sum subject to the provisions of the foregoing section
shall be paid by the employer to some suitable person or corporation
appointed by the circuit or corporation court in the county or city
wherein the accident occurred, or by such other circuit or corporation
court as may be designated by the industrial commission as more
compatible with the interests and convenience of the beneficiaries, as
trustee, to administer the same for the benefit of the person entitled
thereto in the manner provided by the commission. The receipt of
such trustee for the amount as paid shall discharge the employer
or any one else who is liable therefor.

Section 61. The award of the commission, as provided in section
fifty-nine, if not reviewed in due time, or an award of the commission
upon such review, as provided in section sixty, shall be conclusive
and binding as to all questions of fact; but either party to the dispute
may within thirty days from the date of such award, or within thirty
days after receipt of notice to be sent by registered mail of such
award, but not thereafter, appeal from the decision of said commission
to the circuit court of the county or corporation court of the city
in which the alleged accident happened or in which the employer
resides or has his principal office; or if the cause be in the city
of Richmond, then to the circuit or law and equity court of said
city; the form and manner of said appeal shall be prescribed by the
supreme court of appeals of Virginia within thirty days atter this act
takes effect. The judge shall hear and determine the case within
thirty days after the granting of the appeal if court be in session,
and if court be not in session the judge granting such appeal shall
hear and determine the case within thirty days after the beginning
of the ensuing term. Appeals shall lie from such decision of the
judge of the circuit or corporation court to the supreme court of
appeals in the manner as now provided by law for appeals in civil
cases; provided, however, that the petition for such appeal shall be
presented to the supreme court of appeals or one of its judges if the
court be not in session, within thirty days after the entry of the
order appealed from. In such case the filing with the clerk of the
appelate court of ten neatly typewritten copies of the record, duly
certified by the clerk of the court from which the appeal is taken,
shall be taken as a substitute for printing such record. Cases so
appealed shall be placed upon the privileged docket of the court
and be heard at the next ensuing term thereof wherever held. The
commission of its own motion may certify questions of law to the
supreme court of appeals for decision and determination by the said
court. In case of an appeal from the decision of the commission, or
of a certification by said commission, of questions of law, to the
supreme court of appeals, said appeal or certification shall operate
as a supersedeas, and no employer shall be required to make pay-
ment of the award involved in said appeal or certification until the
questions at issue therein shall have been fully determined in accord-
ance with the provisions of this act.

Section 69 (a). Every employer accepting the compensation pro-
visions of this act shall within thirty days after this act takes effect
file with the commission in form prescribed by it, and thereafter
annually or as often as may be necessary, evidence of his compliance
with the provisions of section sixty-eight and all others relating
thereto. Every employer that has complied with the foregoing pro-
vision and has subsequently cancelled his insurance shall immediately
notify the industrial commission of such cancellation, the date there-
of and the reasons therefor; and every insurance carrier shall in
like manner notify the commission immediately upon the cancellation
of any policy issued by it under the provisions of this act.

(b) If such employer refused and neglects to comply with these
provisions he shall be punished by a fine of ten cents for each
employee at the time of the insurance becoming due, but not less
than one dollar nor more than fifty dollars for each day of such
refusal or neglect, and until the same ceases, and he shall be liable
during continuance of such refusal or neglect to an employee either
for compensation under this act or at law in the same inamner as
provided in section sixteen.’ )