MAINE

REVISED STATUTES-1916

CHAPTER 16.-Employment of children-Enforcement of law

SECTION 68. Truant officers.-[Truant officers, under the direction of the school authorities, may enter any place of employment to discover whether children under 14 are employed therein. They may also inspect the permits required for the employment of children above 14 years of age, which employers are required to produce if requested so to do.]

CHAPTER 19.-Occupational diseases-Reports

SECTION 19. Cases to be reported.-Every physician attending upon or called to visit a person whom he believes to be suffering from poisoning from lead, phosphorus, arsenic or mercury, or their compounds, or from anthrax, or from compressed air illness, or any other ailment or disease contracted as a result of such person's occupation or employment, shall, within ten days after his first attendance upon such person, send to the State board of health a written notice, stating the name, post-office address and place of employment of such person, the nature of the occupation and the disease or ailment from which, in the opinion of the physician, the person is suffering, with such other specific information as may be required by the board.

SEC. 21. Penalty.-[Failure of the physician to comply is to be punished by a fine of not less than $5 nor more than $10.]

CHAPTER 19.-Vaccination of employees in paper mills

SECTION 102. Vaccination required.-No owner, agent, or superintendent of any paper mill where domestic or foreign rags are used in the manufacturing of paper shall hire or admit any person to work in or about said mill who has not been successfully vaccinated or revaccinated within two years, or to the satisfaction of the local board of health.

SEC. 103. Same subject.-No person shall work in or about any paper mill where rags are used, who has not been successfully vaccinated or revaccinated within two years, or to the satisfaction of the local board of health.

SEC. 104. List of employees.-The owner, agent and superintendent in every paper mill where rags are used shall every year, in the months of February and September, make out and deliver to the local board of health, a list containing the names, ages, kind of work, and places of residence of all persons employed in or about said mill.

SEC. 105. Examination.-In the months of March and October, annually, each and every person who is employed in a paper mill, shall be examined by the local board of health as to whether he or she is successfully and sufficiently protected by vaccination, and the local board of health shall in all cases be the judges of the sufficiency of the protection by vaccination.

SEC. 106. Penalty.-Whoever violates any provision of the four preceding sections shall be punished by a fine of not more than fifty dollars.

CHAPTER 23.-Steam boilers-Safety provisions

SECTION 22. Safety plugs.-No person or corporation shall manufacture, sell, use, or cause to be used, except as hereinafter provided, any steam boiler in the State unless it is provided with a fusible safety plug, made of lead for boilers carrying steam pressure above fifty pounds per square inch, and of tin for boilers carrying steam pressure of fifty pounds and less per square inch, and said safety plug shall be not less than one-half inch in diameter, and shall be placed in the roof of the fire-box when the fire-box is used, and in all cases shall be placed in the part of the boiler fully exposed to the action of the fire, and as near the surface line of the water as good judgment shall dictate, excepting in cases of upright tubular boilers, when the upper tube sheet is placed above the surface line of the water, which class of boilers shall be exempted from the provisions of this section.

SEC. 23. Violation.-If any person without just and proper cause removes from the boiler the safety plug, or substitutes any material more capable of resisting the action of the fire, or if any person or corporation uses or causes to be used, for six consecutive days, or manufactures or sells a steam boiler of a class not exempted from the provisions of the preceding section, unprovided with such safety fusible plug, such offender shall be fined not exceeding one thousand dollars.

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CHAPTER 30.-Factory, etc., regulations

SECTION 38 (as amended by chapter 194, Acts of 1909). Egress in case of fire.Every building in which any trade, manufacture, or business is carried on, requiring the presence of workmen above the first story, * * * shall at all times be provided with proper egresses or other means of escape from fire sufficient for the use of all persons * * employed therein. These egresses and means of escape shall be kept unobstructed, in good repair and ready for use, the sufficiency thereof shall be determined as provided in the following section.

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SECS. 39, 46. Inspection.-[The duty of inspection devolves on the local authorities; if complaint is made to the State factory inspector of failure on their part to discharge their duties, he shall investigate the complaint, and, if the facts warrant, institute proceedings to enforce the law.]

CHAPTER 42.-Private employment offices

SECTION 6 (as amended 1917, ch. 139). License.-[No one may conduct an employment office without a license from the municipal authorities, for which an annual fee of $25 must be paid. The license is valid only for the place designated, but may be transferred by complying with the terms prescribed. No agency may be conducted in a building used as an inn, lodging house, or boarding house.]

SEC. 7. Bond.-[Bond in the sum of $1,000 must be provided, conditioned on compliance with the law and to protect persons claiming damages for the misconduct of the licensee.]

SEC. 8. Register.-[A correct register must be kept of all applicants for employment, of employers to whom they are sent, date, fee paid, etc.]

SEC. 9. Receipts, fees.-[Receipts must be given for all fees paid by applicants, which shall not exceed $1 if paid in advance, or $1.25 if charged to the applicant. If no position is obtained within six days, the fee paid or charged must, on demand, be repaid or canceled, as the case may be, if the applicant has broken no agreement made with the agency. The employee must be furnished an identification card. No licensee may seek to induce an employee to leave employment with a view to placement through his agency.]

SEC. 10. Acts forbidden.—[No female may be sent to any immoral resort or place of bad repute, known by the licensee to be such. Persons of questionable character are not to be permitted to frequent the agency. Employment contrary to law may not be procured for children.]

SEC. 11. Enforcement.-[Enforcement rests with the licensing officials. Licenses may be refused or revoked for cause, and revocation is good ground for a reissue to the former licensee or any one associated with him. Provision is made for hearings on complaints, but the decision of the municipal officials is final.]

SEC. 12. Violations.-[Penalties for violations are fines not exceeding $25, and costs.]

CHAPTER 49.—Arbitration, etc., of labor disputes-State boards SECTION 1. State board.-The State board of arbitration and conciliation as heretofore established shall consist of three members appointed by the governor, with the advice and consent of the council, from time to time upon the expiration of the terms of the several members, for terms of three years. One member shall be an employer of labor or selected from some association representing employers of labor, and another shall be an employee or an employee selected from some bona fide trade or labor union and not an employer of labor. Vacancies occurring during a term shall be filled for the unexpired term. The board shall hold a meeting on the third Wednesday of September in each year and shall organize by choosing from its members

a chairman and secretary. It shall be the duty of the board to endeavor to settle disputes, strikes, and lockouts between employers and employees. The board shall from time to time make such rules of procedure as it deems necessary, and shall annually, on or before the first day of December, make a report to the governor and council, which shall be incorporated in and printed with the biennial report of the department of labor and industry. SEC. 2. Notice of strike; investigation.--Whenever it appears to the mayor of a city or the selectmen of a town that a strike is seriously threatened, or a strike actually occurs, he or they shall at once notify the State board of arbitration and conciliation and such notification may also be given by the employer or employees actually concerned in the strike or lockout. If, when such strike is threatened or actually occurs, it appears that as many as ten employees are directly concerned therein, the State board of arbitration and conciliation shall, as soon as may be, communicate with such employer and employees and endeavor by mediation to obtain an amicable settlement or endeavor to persuade such employer and employees to submit the matter in controversy to a local board of arbitration and conciliation or to the State board. If the matter be submitted, the board to which it is submitted shall investigate such controversy and ascertain which party is mainly responsible or blameworthy for the existence of the same, and the board may make and publish a report finding such cause and assigning such responsibility or blame. The State board shall, upon request of the governor, investigate and report upon any controversy if in his opinion it threatens to affect the public welfare.

SEC. 3. Inquiry; decision.-In any controversy where not less than ten employees are directly concerned the board shall, upon application as hereinafter provided, and as soon as practicable, visit the place where the controversy exists and make careful inquiry into its cause, and the board may, with the consent of the governor, conduct such inquiry beyond the limits of the State. The board shall hear all persons interested who come before it, advise the respective parties what ought to be done or submitted to by either or both to adjust said controversy, and make a written decision thereof, which shall at once be made public, shall be open to public inspection, and shall be recorded by the secretary of the board; said decision shall for six months be binding on the parties who join in the application or until the expiration of sixty days after either party has given notice to the other in writing of his intention not to be bound thereby; such notice may be given to the employees by posting it in three conspicuous places in the shop, factory, yard, or other place where they work.

SEC. 4. Application for inquiry.—The application for such inquiry may be signed by the employer or by a majority of the employees in the department of the business in which the controversy exists or by their duly authorized agent or by both parties, and, if signed by an agent claiming to represent a majority of the employees, the board shall satisfy itself that he is duly authorized to do so. The application shall contain a statement of the matter in controversy and a promise to continue in business or at work without any strike or lockout until the decision of the board, if such decision is made within three weeks after the date of filing the application. The secretary of the board shall forthwith after such filing cause public notice to be given of the time and place of hearing on the application, unless both parties join in the application and present therewith the written request that no public notice shall be given. If such request is made, notice shall be given to the parties in such a manner as the board shall order, and the board may give public notice notwithstanding such request.

SEC. 5. Authority to summon witnesses, etc.-The board may summon as witnesses any operative or any person who keeps the record of wages earned in the department of business in which the controversy exists and may require the production of books which contain the record of wages paid. Summonses may be signed and oaths administered by any member of the board. Witnesses summoned by the board shall be allowed the same fees as are paid to witnesses in the supreme judicial court; these fees together with all necessary expenses of the board shall be paid by the treasurer of State on warrants drawn by the governor and council.

SEC. 6. Local boards. The parties to any controversy described in section three may submit such controversy to a local board of arbitration and conciliation, which may be either mutually agreed upon or may be composed of three persons, one of whom shall be designated by the employer, one by the em

ployees or their duly authorized agent; the third, who shall be chairman, by the other two; such board shall have all the powers exercised by the State board, and its decision shall have the same effect as that of the State board. The decision of said board shall be rendered within ten days after the close of any hearing held by it and shall at once be filed with the clerk of the municipality where the controversy arose, and a copy thereof shall be filed with the secretary of the State board by the clerk of the said municipality. Each of said arbitrators shall be entitled to receive three dollars for each day of actual service, to be paid by the treasurer of State on a warrant drawn by the governor and council.

CHAPTER 49.-Department of labor and industry

SECTION 9 (as amended 1919, ch. 231). Department continued.-A State department of labor and industry shall be maintained under the direction of an officer whose title shall be commissioner of labor and industry and State factory inspector. He shall be appointed by the governor, with the advice and consent of the council, for a term of three years, and shall hold office until his successor is appointed and qualified. He shall have an office in the State capitol. He shall appoint a deputy who shall be clerk of the department and deputy State factory inspector, and shall hold office during the pleasure of the commissioner; he shall also appoint a stenographer for the department and a woman factory inspector, and may employ special agents and such other assistants as may be required for the work of the department. The special agents and other assistants shall work under the supervision and direction of the commissioner and shall be paid for their services such compensation as he may deem proper, not exceeding five dollars a day and necessary traveling expenses. All expenses of the department shall be audited by the State auditor and shall be payable upon proper vouchers certified by the commissioner.

SEC. 10. Duties.-The department shall collect, assort, and arrange statistical details relating to all departments of labor and industrial pursuits in the State; to trade-unions and other labor organizations and their effect upon labor and capital; to the number and character of industrial accidents and their effect upon the injured, their dependent relatives, and upon the general public; to other matters relating to the commercial, industrial, social, educational, moral, and sanitary conditions prevailing within the State, including the names of firms, companies, or corporations, where located, the kind of goods produced or manufactured, the time operated each year, the number of employees, classified according to age and sex, and the daily and average wages paid each employee, and the exploitation of such other subjects as will tend to promote the permanent prosperity of the industries of the State. The commissioner of labor and industry shall cause to be enforced all laws regulating the employment of minors and women; all laws established for the protection of health, lives, and limbs of operators in workshops and factories, on railroads, and in other places; all laws regulating the payment of wages, and all laws enacted for the protection of the working classes. He shall, on or before the first day of January, biennially, report to the governor, and may make such suggestions and recommendations as he may deem necessary for the information of the legislature. He may from time to time cause to be printed and distributed bulletins upon any subject that shall be of public interest and benefit to the State.

SEC. 11. Question blanks.-The commissioner may furnish a written or printed list of interrogatories for the purpose of gathering such facts and statistics as are contemplated herein, to any person or the proper officer of any corporation operating within the State, and may require full and complete answers thereto under oath; the commissioner shall have a seal, and may take and preserve testimony, issue subpoenas, administer oaths, and examine witnesses under oath in all matters relating to the duties herein required of said department of labor and industry; such testimony shall be taken in some suitable place in the vicinity to which the testimony is applicable. Witnesses summoned and testifying before the commissioner shall be paid, from any funds at disposal of the department, the same fees as witnesses before the supreme judicial court. Whoever, being duly summoned under the provisions of this section, shall willfully neglect or refuse to attend, or refuse to answer any question propounded to him concerning the subject of such examination as provided in this section, or whoever, being furnished by the commissioner with a written or printed list of interrogatories, shall neglect or refuse to answer and return

the same under oath, shall be punished by a fine of not less than twenty-five nor more than one hundred dollars, or by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding thirty days, or by both such fine and imprisonment: Provided, however, That no witness shall be compelled to go outside of the county in which he resides to testify. In the report of said department no use shall be made of the names of individuals, firms, or corporations supplying the information called for by this section unless by written permission, such information being confidential and not for the purpose of disclosing personal affairs.

SEC. 12. Entering work places.—The commissioner, as State factory inspector, and any authorized agent of the department of labor and industry may enter any factory or mill, workshop, private works, or State institutions which have shops or factories when the same are open or in operation, for the purpose of gathering facts and statistics such as are contemplated by this section and the two preceding sections, and may examine into the methods of protection from danger to employees and the sanitary conditions in and around such buildings and places and may make a record of such inspection. Whoever shall refuse to admit or shall unreasonably delay the commissioner, or any authorized agent of the department of labor and industry, in so entering, or shall refuse to give the information so desired by said commissioner or authorized agent, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars, or by imprisonment for not more than ninety days, or by both such fine and imprisonment in the discretion of the court. If the commissioner as State factory inspector, or any authorized agent of the department of labor and industry, shall find upon such inspection that the heating, lighting, ventilation, or sanitary arrangement of any workshops or factories is such as to be injurious to the health of the persons employed or residing therein or that the means of egress in case of fire or other disaster are not sufficient, or that the belting, shafting, gearing, elevators, drums, saws, cogs, and machinery in such workshops and factories are located or are in a condition so as to be dangerous to employees and not sufficiently guarded, or that vats, pans, or any other structures, filled with molten metal or hot liquids, are not surrounded with proper safeguards for preventing accidents or injury to those employed at or near them, he shall notify, in writing, the owner, proprietor, or agent of such workshops or factories to make, within thirty days, the alterations or additions by him deemed necessary for the safety and protection of the employees; and if such alterations or additions are not made within thirty days from the date of such written notice, or within such time as said alterations or additions can be made with proper diligence upon the part of such proprietors, owners, or agents, said proprietors, owners or agents so notified shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be punished by a fine of not less than twenty-five, nor more than two hundred dollars, or by imprisonment not more than thirty days, or by both such fine and imprisonment at the discretion of the court. All fines or penalties provided in this section and the preceding section may be recovered or enforced by complaint or indictment; and in all prosecutions under said sections, trial justices and judges of the municipal and police courts, within their counties, shall have, by complaint, original and concurrent jurisdiction with the supreme judicial court and superior courts.

SEC. 13. Terms defined.-The following terms used in the four preceding sections shall have the following meanings: The word "person 99 means an individual, corporation, partnership, company or association. The word "factory" means any premises where steam, water or other mechanical power is used in aid of any manufacturing process there carried on. The word "workshop" means any premises, room or place, not being a factory as above defined, wherein any manual labor is exercised by way of trade, or for the purpose of gain in or incidental to any process of making, altering, repairing, ornamenting, finishing or adapting for sale any article or part of an article, and to which or over which premises, room or place the employer of the person or persons working therein has the right of access or control; provided, however, that the exercise of such manual labor in a private house, or a private room by the family dwelling therein, or by any of them, or in case a majority of persons therein employed are members of such family, shall not of itself constitute such house or room a workshop within this definition. The aforesaid terms shall have the meanings above defined for them respectively in all laws of this State relating to the employment of labor, unless a different meaning is plainly required by the context.

SEC. 14. Municipal officers to furnish information.-All State, county, city and town officers are hereby directed to furnish the commissioner of labor

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