MINIMUM WAGE LAW In 1913 the legislature passed a law creating a Minimum Wage Commission. Owing to the absence of some of the members there has been no general report made of conditions in the state. MINIMUM WAGE LAW OF THE STATE OF NEBRASKA AN ACT To establish a Minimum Wage Commission and to provide for the determination of minimum wages for women and minors. Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Nebraska: Section 1. (Minimum Wage Commission, establishment, members.) There is hereby established a commission to be known as the Nebraska Minimum Wage Commission. The Governor is hereby made a member of said commission. Within thirty days from the passage and approval of this act he shall appoint the following additional members: Deputy Commissioner of Labor; a member of the political science department of the University of Nebraska; one other member who shall be a citizen of the state. At least one member of said commission shall be a woman. Each of the above appointments shall be for a period of two years and may be renewed thereafter. Any vacancy occurring in the commission shall be filled by the Governor. Within ten days after such appointment the · commission shall meet and organize by the election of a chairman and secretary. Sec. 2. (Expenses; office.) Each commissioner shall be paid all traveling and other expenses incurred in the performance of his or her official duties. The commission may incur other necessary expenses not exceeding the biennial appropriation therefor and shall be provided with an office in the state house or at the State University. Sec. 3. (Wages, females, investigation.) It shall be the duty of the commission to inquire into the wages paid to the female employees in any occupation in the commonwealth, if the commission has reason to believe that the wages paid to a substantial number of such employees are inadequate to supply the necessary cost of living and to maintain the worker in health. Sec. 4. (Wage board.) If after such investigation the commission is of the opinion that in the occupation in question the wages paid to a substantial number of female employees are inadequate to supply the necessary cost of living and to maintain the worker in health, the commission shall establish a wage board, consisting of not less than three representatives of employers in the occupation in question and of an equal number of persons to represent the female employees in said occupation, and in addition thereto the three appointed members of the commission to represent the public. The chairman of the commission shall be chairman of the wage board and shall make rules and regulations governing the procedure of the board and exercise jurisdiction over all questions arising with reference to the validity of the procedure and the determinations of the board. The secretary of the commission shall be secretary of the wage board and keep such record of hearings and arguments as the wage board shall direct. The Lembers of wage boards shall be compensated at the same rate as jurors in district court; they shall be allowed necessary traveling and other expenses incurred in the performance of their duties, these payments to be made from the appropriation for the expenses of the commission. Sec. 5. (Minimum wage, investigation, report.) The commission may transmit to each wage board all pertinent information in its possession relative to the wages paid in the occupation in question. Each wage board shall take into consideration the needs of the employees, the financial condition of the occupation and the probable effect thereon of any increase in the minimum wages paid, and shall endeavor to determine the minimum wage, whether by time rate or piece rate, suitable for a female employee of ordinary ability in the occupation in question or for any or all of the branches thereof, and also suitable minimum wages for learners and apprentices and for minors below the age of eighteen years. When twothirds of the members of a wage board shall agree upon minimum wage determinations, they shall report such determination to the commission, together with the reasons therefor and the facts relating thereto, and also the names, so far as they can be ascertained by the board, of employers who pay less than the minimum wage so determined. Sec. 6. (Decision wage Doard, review by commission. Publication employers, review by court.) Upon receipt of a report from a wage board, the commission shall review the same, and report its review to the Governor. If the commission approves any or all of the determinations of the wage board it shall, after not less than thirty days' notice to employers paying a wage less than the minimum wage approved, give a public hearing to such employers, and if, after such public hearing the commission finally approves the determination, it shall enter a decree of its findings and note thereon the names of employers, so far as they may be known to the commission, who fail or refuse to accept such minimum wage and to agree to abide by it. The commission shall, within thirty days thereafter, publish the names of all such employers in at least one newspaper in each county in the commonwealth, together with the material part of its findings, and a statement of the minimum wages paid by every such employer. Any employer upon filing a declaration under oath in the district court to the effect that compliance with such decree would endanger the prosperity of the business to which the same is made applicable, shall be entitled to a stay of execution of such decree, and a review thereof with reference to the question involved in such declaration. Such review shall be made by the court under the rules of equity procedure, and if it shall be found by the court that compliance with such decree is likely to endanger the prosperity of the business to which the same is applicable, then an order shall issue from said court revoking the same. The type in which the employers' names shall be printed shall not be smaller than that in which the news matter of the paper is printed. The publication shall be attested by the signature of at least a majority of the commission. Sec. 7. (Wage determination, report to legislature.) In case a wage board shall make a recommendation of a wage determination in which a majority but less than two-thirds of the members concur, the commission, in its discretion, may report such recommendation and the pertinent facts relating thereto to the legislature. Sec. 8. (Minimum wage, reconsideration.) Whenever a minimum wage rate has been established in any occupation, the commission may, upon petition of either employers or employees, reconvene the wage boards or establish a new wage board, and any recommendation made by such board shall be dealt with in the same manner as the original recommendation of a wage board. a Sec. 9. (Special license.) For any occupation in which minimum time rate only has been established, the commission may issue to any woman physically defective a special license authorizing the employment of the license (e) for a wage less than the legal minimum wage; Provided, that it is not less than the special minimum wage fixed for that person. Sec. 10. (Wages, minors, investigation, determination.) The commission may at any time inquire into the wages paid to minors in any occupation in which the majority of employees are minors, and may, after giving public hearings, determine minimum wages suitable for such minors. When the commission has made such a determination, it may proceed in the same manner as if the determination had been recommended to the commission by a wage board. Sec. 11. (Employees register; witnesses, fees.) Every employer of women and minors shall keep a register of the names and addresses of all women and minors employed by him, and shall on request permit the commission or any of its members or agents to inspect the register. The commission shall also have power to subpoena witnesses, administer oaths and take testimony, and to examine such parts of the books and records of employers as relate to the wages paid to women and minors. Such witnesses shall be summoned in the same manner and be paid from the treasury of the commonwealth the same fees as witnesses before the District Court. Sec. 12. (Statistics.) The commission may cause such statistics and other data to be gathered as it may deem desirable, and the cost thereof shall be paid out of the appropriation made for the expenses of the commission. Sec. 13. (Discrimination against employee, penalty.) Any employer who discharges or in any other manner discriminates against any employee because such employee has testified, or is about to testify, or because the employer believes that the employee may testify, in any investigation or proceeding relative to the enforcement of this act, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of twenty-five dollars for each offense. Sec. 14. (Employers disobeying decrees, publication.) The commission shall from time to time determine whether employers in each occupation investigated are obeying its decrees, and shall publish in the manner provided in section six, the name of any employer whom it finds to be violating any such decree. Sec. 15. (Newspapers, refusing to publish findings of commission, penalty.) Any newspaper publisher or publishers refusing or neglecting to publish the findings, decrees or notices of the commission at its regular rates for the space taken shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars for each offense. Sec. 16. (Publication. damages.) No member of the commission and no newspaper publisher, proprietor, editor or employee thereof, shall be liable to an action for damages for publishing the name of any employer in accordance with the provisions of this act, unless such publication contains scme willful misrepresentation. Sec. 17. (Reports.) The commission shall make a report to the Governor on or before the first day of November, 1914, and biennially thereafter, covering the results secured and data gathered in its work. It may also make such additional reports in the form of bulletins from time to time as in its judgment shall best serve the public interest. Approved, April 21, 1913. PART XI General Factory Inspection and Laws "Time was, and not so very far in the past, when little or no thought was given to the question of protection of human life from the dangers that threatened in the hazardous lines of man's endeavor. Few safety appliances were installed, and the resulting loss of life was looked upon as one of the unavoidable penalties of the industry. But an enlightened public sentiment has wrought a change in this respect, and today the 'Safety First' slogan is one of the most insistent and appealing in our daily industrial life." -Governor Stewart. GENERAL FACTORY SUGGESTIONS These suggestions will apply to every factory or concern where machinery is operated and should be observed by both employer and employee. KINDS OF SAFEGUARDS Men differ on what is safe and what is a dangerous piece of machinery, and as to the kind and the methods of safeguarding. But if a certain thing is dangerous in one factory, then it stands to reason the same thing is dangerous in another factory. Hence the same kind of safeguard will suffice, the important thing being, does the protector protect? DOORS All exit doors should open outward in every factory. CLOTHING Clothing often causes serious damage by a ragged sleeve, loose coat, or flowing cravat by being caught in the moving machinery. Especially is this true among female employees through loose garments and loose hair. The custom of clothing should be governed, in this respect, by certain rules laid down by the employer. ROOM, LIGHT AND AIR Insufficient room and light are most conducive to accident. Especially should there be plenty of room and light around dangerous machines. Air is the stimulus to health and the prevention of accidents. Every stairway, hallway, platform, runway and passage way should be furnished with sufficient light, either natural or artificial, to enable persons to note obstacles. Hand rails should be placed on all stairs and platforms. The edge should be skirted so as to prevent tools and other articles from falling off. RULES AND SPECIFICATIONS FOR SAFEGUARDS 1. All safeguards and safety devices and dangerous places and machinery shall be painted a bright vermillion red. 2. All exposed cogs or gears shall be inclosed in metal casing. 3. Every protruding set-screw in collars and couplings on shaftings or other revolving machinery shall be countersunk or covered with metal boxing. 4. Keys on shaftings, wheels, etc., shall not be allowed to project from ends of shaftings and all dead ends of shaftings shall be enclosed in metal casings or boxings. 5. Pulleys, belts and shaftings must be protected by boxing or inclosing the dangerous parts with metal or other suitable material. |