The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-12-17
FOR
 THE EMPLOYER
Compensation Commissioners
 Give Certain Opinions.

have given out proofs of Bulletin Nc. 3, which will be- ready at an early date. It treats largely of the ques- tion of the certifcation of the financial ability or employers. It says that the obvious intent of the act is to tdo justice both to employer and ena- pIoye and provide, instead of a law suit, which may go from court to court for 8 number Of years, sim pie procedure calculated to determine the issues with the minimum of ex- pense to both sides.
 l To do this the act provides that an | employer who would take advantage of it's provisions shall take certain steps calculated to secure to his em-
 ployes the satisfaction of any award says:
 It is to be noted in this connection that a refusal on the part of the conn missioner to pass an employer as of sufficient solvency and financial ab1l- 1ty under Section 30 of Part B of the act, is not to be. taken as a reflection l upon the business standing of the employer. If he had applied for mer- camille credit the question would have been, can he meet the, obligations ma turing in thirty, sixty or ninety days? The obligation to the employer may not fully mature for ten years, and hence more thorough method of irl- vestigating his affairs must be ena- ployed, and different principles applied in determining his financial condition.
 A wholesaler or lender doing a large
 amount of business can properly take risk-so extending credit that the leverage loss will be smal1-which an | enploye, whose award for damages
 may constitute his all. cannot fairly be called upon to take. < It is obvious that to determine
 whether one is solvent in the ordinary sense of the term-as the term is used, for instance, in the bankruptcy act his assets must equal exceed his liabilities. sBn order to be of sufficient financial ability to respond to the de-
 naands of the compensation act there must be a large excess of assets over liabilities. Furthermore, the charac- ter of the applicant for the certificate l of solvency and financial ability, and his history, must be such ito justify the belief that his business will not only be honestly conducted with a view of doing justice to his employees within the range of his. duties under the act, but will probably be so con- servatiVely and successfully; manag- ed that the chance of his ability to
 pay ten years hence will be reduced to a minimum Among the controll- ing clements are, therefore, the haz- ard of his business, his financial strength, and his personal character. Another vital1y important element will be, developed in the answers to the questions which will, in effect, be put to him, what arrangements have you made to meet your obligations under the act, what funds have you devoted to that purpose, and how are those funds to be safeguarded for the benefit of future injured employees? When application is made for a
 certificate of so1vency and financial ability the applicant is asked to fill
 out three forms except in the case of 1oI]1xzo <@F- -I,o which case only two forms need be employed.
 In order to advise the commissioner as to the details with reference to the hazard of the particular employ ment, the employer will fill out which ever one of four forms may be app1ica- ble to the employment. These forms
 are No. 21, Factory Hazard; No. 25, Mercantile, Office and Miscellaneous
 Hazard"; No. 24, "Contracting and
 Building Hazard; and No. 23, Farm Hazard
 In the case of an employer who does r not fall strictly within one of these classi1cations, he will use the form which most nearly meets his needs, and in any case will supplement the blank with attached sheets-which should be of the same size as the off, cia1 form and preferably written on one side only-giving anl supplemental information which could aid the com | missioner. 1 In order to get before the commits sioner the facts as to his financial standing, the employer should apply for and fill out the blank. adapted
 to his particular form of business 1 organization. There are three of 1 these financial forms. Form No. IS l is to be used by corporations; Form 1 No. 19 is to be used by individuals
 and partnerships. Form No. 20, which | is entitled household and farm,'' is 1 intended, as it's title signifies, =primar-
 fly for individual employers of these l two classes; but in the case of an in-
 dfvidua1 conducting a small business l in some other line, this form might be adequate and preferable. In the case of househo1ders, there is no sep
 arate hazard form, the essential facts
 being called for in Form No 20.
 | While the commissioner may pass an
 employer as of sufficient so1vency and
 financial ability to respond to his ob-
 IIigations under Part B of the act
 without the setting aside of any spe- l security to meet the claims of injured
 employees, cases where this can be
 done must, in view of the circum-
 stances, be exceptional. In every
 case the applicant is asked to fill out
 1 another form, No. 26, which states
 whether or not any special provision
 has been made for meeting the 1iabi1-
 fty to injured employees, and, if so, l what those provisions are. Tn order 1 to save unnecessary correspondence it I would be well to attach to this form
 lsuppleme enta1 sheets containing de-
 1 tailed. exact statements of what the
 employer had done Or proposed to do 1 in this respect.
 The commission has, apparently secured opinions from various sources
 1 on the matter of calculating the EabiI- ity. One of these opinions, given by 1 one who is said to have been Q, mem