Carolina watchman. [volume] (Salisbury, N.C.) 1871-1937, 1932-09-09
Hope Is Seen
In The Delay
OF Hearings
Business Recovery May Help RegnI-
ating of The Premiums
Legislature Expected To Face De-
.1nand For Cutting Scale

T.~
Indefinite postponement of the
public hearing set for this week or
the proposed increase in rates fol
workmen's compensation insurance
gave rise to the hope the matter coule
be held in allegiance until a quickening
industrial pulse removed the grounds
upon which companies asked the in
crease, or that the next Legislature
could revise the present law to meet
existing conditions.
The Workmen's Compensation Act
was enacted in the. boom year Of
1929. Wages were high and profits
still to. be had. Schedules of payment
for employees disability and death
were based upon conditions prevail
ing then. Insurance companies fixed
premiums which they then considered
adequate.
Hardly had the act become opera
tive before the bottom started drop
ping out Of the economic armament.
Wages started down. Profits shrank
and in. many cases vanished.
In cases it actually became profit
able for workers to be out on. the
minimum compensation of 81 a week
han at regular employment. En-
ployers. pay, reducing premiums
which are based on payroll exposure.
COMPANIES Ask Boost
The combination of circumstances
brought the companies, with a mea-
ger two years. experience before Dan
c. Boney, State Insurance Commits
sioner, asking increased rates. They
cited in support statistics of the N.
c. Inspection and Rating Bureau, a
mutually operated bureau established
by the last legislature to keep tab on
workmen's compensation business.
Contesting the claims to higher rates
was the: State Industrial Commission:
which administers the compensation
act, and has records of its own.
When stock and mutual companies
failed TO get together on the boost
tIsey-wssnntteedd@ , stock companies
asked for Is per cent and the mu-
tuals II, it became a question for
Commissioner Boney as ex ofhco
chairman of the rating bureaus
board of governors to break the tie
This he has never done. When and
if he does so, it will be up to him
as commissioner to accept or reject
the recommendations. The companies
were to have filed briefs last week,
and when they failed to do SO the
commissioner announced the indeh-
mite postponement Of the public
hearing set for September 7, insur-
ing retention of present rates for the
time being.
Two Courses Seen
Should the business recovery that
seems to be indicated by the action
Of market indices assume any great
proportion, there are those who see
rising payrolls capable Of ofsetting
the effects of the depression and rob-
bing the insurance companies OF
their arguments for higher rates.
On the other hand, should the rise
prove just another false. upward
start, and business again settle in the
depths, there are observers who be-
lieve the next Legislature will be
faced with revising the compensation
scale on the basis Of prevailing
wages.
The present scale calls for COM
pensation to an injured employe not
to exceed so per cent Of his wages,
with a minimum. of 81 a week and a
maximum of $18. For death, the
maximum is $4,000.
Say Scale Higher
These rates, it was said at the In
surance Department, are the highest
in the Southern states, in South Car
DINA and others, the death maximum
being only $4,000 and other schedul-
es down proportionately.
At the present time, it was pointed
out, there are any number of work
ers in textile and other. mills who do
not make 81 a week.. and thus the
minimum weekly, compensation pay
nent for time they are out on &C
count of injury is actually greater
than what they could make at work.
Another contention of the COM
panies is that while wages have been
cut, man hours have been reduced
proportionately, thus subjecting the
carriers to greater risk for smaller
premium. Should payrolls and hours
be reduced on the same proportion,
the situation with regard to the in
surance carriers would be little al
tered, it was said.
P~:of ~ hox;os1cs