New Britain herald., 1926-12-23
NEED FOR MODIFYING COMPENSATION LAW

The interpretations which have made 1t difficult for partially dis abled men to obtain work need to be eliminated through amending the law to provide for 'interpreta- tions" to go far beyond the original intent of the law. On this side there appears to be agreement upon both sides.
 The placing of undue burdens upon some manufacturers likewise needs modification. A law of this character should operate in an even- handed manner, treating all manu- lecturers alike and all employees alike. There seems to be no dis pute about this point.
 From this point on there is some disagreement. The Manufacturers association of Connecticut, after due study of the law and it's interpreta- tons, has come to the conclusion that sweeping changes are necessary to return it to it's original basis of intention. Their claim that men possessing certain physical ailments are finding 1t impossible to obtain employment under the law-unless the employers are willing to as- sume obligations which no just man would expect them to assume; that the interpretations regarding occu- pational diseases have gone far be- yond what anyone ever intended should be the case: that l2,5o0 men in the state are permanently barred from obtaining employment under the law, when as 8 matter of fact they are well able to function as in dustrial workers: that the increasing use of medical examinations is steadily enlarging the army Of per manentiy unemployed: that the law should be less an instrument sub feet 10 legal construction but more defi- nite in it's application-these conten- tions are sound
 The Connecticut Federation of Labor, cycling the plan to amend the law with customary suspicion, agrees upon some things but disagrees upon others. This is its privilege, and any contribution of value 10 the discussion will not be arniss. The Federation definitely charges that the manufacturers are chiefly in terested' in changing section 53SS, which would scrap all the Supreme court decisions on the act in the past IS years" and virtually take the heart out of the law"
 Whether this charge can be sus- tained remains to be seen. II can be emphasized that at the time the law was passed, and when the oc- cupational disease clauses were writ ten into 1t in 1919 and 1921. the court decisions referred to were not anticipated. They have broadened the law enormously, and in reality are the heart Of the opposition. Tho occupational disease clauses have been made to embrace so much that employers are unable 10 assert fundamental rights with any hope of gaining them. Decisions have been made which ascribe oC- cupa,ional diseases 10 employment which has been had only q few months. Men with some latent or ganic weakness of years standing, after few months upon a new job, have been able 10 claim their work caused inc disease. or vastly agra vated it, and have been universally upheld in their contentious The decisions have been q stimulator Of dishonesty, but that seems 10 be no deterrent to lawyers who sec an opportunity of shaking down some rich employer under the law, Mani fcstly this cannot TO on indefinitely. Nobody oppoaos compensation for occupational disoasea when they really are such; but there is logic behind an objection 10 paying heavy compensation for something that really is not all occupational dis case but which can masquerade as one under the various interTreta- tions Of the law.
 If the changes in the law are not lAdl" the nt' result VIII be that medical examinations will become so strict that when a man wishes 10 obtain employment but happens 10 have an ordinarily insignificant and harmless variation from the highest of health standards he will be told he cannot be employed When this begins to happen a great raany men will begin to realize that the law does not "proteot' them as much as they had reason to expect. In truth. they will not be protected at all.
 Obviously. one need not take the word of the manufacturers for all this. qy the word and inclination of empl f.ers. Being human. they
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