{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/presentation/2/context.json","@type":"sc:Manifest","@id":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/ncdcr/iiif/0aead867-8c15-485d-a7a1-1ef6c13086ba/manifest","label":"Industrial_Commission","metadata":[{"label":"Title","value":"State Agency Finding Aid: Industrial Commission, 1930-1933"},{"label":"MARS ID","value":"181"},{"label":"Digital Collections","value":["Legacy Finding Aids Collection"]},{"label":"Identifier","value":"Industrial_Commission"},{"label":"Digital Format","value":["application/pdf"]},{"label":"Hosted By","value":["State Archives of North Carolina"]},{"label":"Metadata Creator","value":["Cusick, Aaron"]},{"label":"Type","value":["Text"]},{"label":"Notes Public","value":"If you have questions about this collection, please contact the State Archives of North Carolina at archives@ncdcr.gov."},{"label":"Source","value":"Industrial Commission Records. State Archives of North Carolina"},{"label":"Language","value":["English"]},{"label":"Description","value":"Although compensation for workers injured in workplace accidents  became part of North Carolina's Democratic Party platform in 1913 and was supported by several governors, it was opposed by many manufacturers and only gradually won acceptance by the electorate.  In a special legislative message in January 1925, Governor Angus W. McLean urged passage of a workers' compensation law, noting that North Carolina was one of six states still lacking a policy on work-related injuries. McLean's successor, O. Max Gardner, expressed a similar position in his  inaugural address of January 1929, citing the state's \"crying need for a fair and just workmen's compensation law.\"  Gardner's proposal gained momentum as a result of consultations between spokesmen for labor and business and the involvement of the North Carolina Conference for Social Service, headed by Professor Frank Porter Graham of the University of  North Carolina.  The following March the General Assembly enacted the  state's first Workmen's Compensation Act, with provisions for the  establishment of fixed standards to be used in settling claims.  This 1929 act and all of its later revisions were to be administered by the newly established North Carolina Industrial Commission.  Under terms of its enabling legislation, the Industrial Commision was to consist of three gubernatorial appointees, including one member  designated by the governor to serve as chairman.  Those appointed  initially were to serve staggered terms, while their successors were to serve six years.  The law stipulated that the separate interests of the workers or the employers could not be represented by the commission's chairman, or by more than one of its other members.  The commission was authorized to appoint its own support staff, including deputies with authority to subpoena witnesses and administer oaths.  The Industrial Commission was also empowered to make all rules and regulations for carrying out provisions of the Workmen's Compensation  Act; to examine employers' books and records; to inspect workplaces and to evaluate them in terms of their provisions for safety and their  potential occupational hazards; and to adjudicate disputes between  employers and employees through the holding of hearings and subpoena of  witnesses.  While each commissioner was authorized to hold hearings and  to award compensation for claims, contested settlements were to be heard  before the full commission.  Further appeals were to be made to the  superior court of the county in which the employer resided or maintained  a principal office, or where the accident occurred.  The duties of the Industrial Commission involved publishing and distributing information regarding the Workmen's Compensation Act; conducting studies and investigations with respect to safety measures and making recommendations to employers; tabulating accident reports received from employers; and publishing an annual report.  From its inception, the commission was assisted by its divisions of  Administration, Claim Examination, Statistics, and Safety.  The Division of Safety held its first statewide Industrial Safety Conference in 1930, and the conference subsequently became an annual event.  The same division organized and supported eight regional safety councils, which have continued to meet on a quarterly basis to promote awareness of workplace safety issues.  In 1931 the General Assembly authorized the Industrial Commission to enforce the collection of any fines or penalties provided by the Workmen's Compensation Act and to make these part of the commission's maintenance fund.  Also, in cases of controversy between an employee and employer over medical treatment, the commission was given broad discretionary powers, with authority to order a continuation or a change of prescribed treatment.  In 1943 the General Assembly directed the Division of Industrial Hygiene under the State Board of Health to assist the Industrial Commission by giving clinical and x-ray examinations in cases of suspected occupational disease such as asbestosis and silicosis.  This cooperative program was to remain indefinitely under the supervision of the Industrial Commission.  During the decades of the 1950s and 1960s, the Industrial Commission's powers and duties were extended under various legislative acts.  In 1951 the commission was constituted as a court for hearing and deciding tort claims against all agencies and institutions under the purview of state government, with appeals to be heard by a superior court.  In 1955 the  General Assembly authorized the commission, or any of its deputies, to  add additional parties as plaintiff or defendant in cases as needed prior to the final determination of those cases.  Under terms of that legislation, hearings were to be held in the city or county where an injury occurred, unless otherwise specified by the commission.  Under the Law Enforcement Officers Death Benefit Act of 1965, the General Assembly gave the Industrial Commission jurisdiction over the death benefits of state law enforcement officers.  (The act was expanded in 1973 to include death benefits for firemen and rescue squad workers and in 1977 to  include senior members of the Civil Air Patrol.)  Following the establishment of the North Carolina Court of Appeals in 1967, the General Assembly revised the appeals procedure of the  Industrial Commission, requiring that petitions for appeal of decisions rendered by the full commission would thereafter be made to the Court of Appeals.  The Executive Organization Act of 1971 created the Department of  Commerce under the supervision of a cabinet-level secretary appointed by the governor.  The Industrial Commission was placed within that agency  for administrative purposes, but retained its previously granted powers and functions.  The department and commission were not affected by the Executive Organization Act of 1973.  In 1986 the General Assembly gave the Industrial Commission the additional duty of administering the state's Childhood Vaccine-related Injury Compensation Program, with authority to hear and pass upon all  claims submitted accordingly.  The following year, the legislature  authorized the commission to assess fines against employers failing to follow all compensation provisions of the Workmen's Compensation Act, previously a responsibility of the commissioner of insurance.  Proceed- ings against those found in violation of the law were to be held in a  meeting open to the public, and decisions were subject to review and appeal.  The Office of the Attorney General was charged with the  enforcement of any fines imposed by the commission.  In 1989 the General Assembly reorganized the Industrial Commission's administrative agency, the Department of Commerce, as the Department of Economic and Community Development.  However, the 1991 General Assembly restored the agency's name to the Department of Commerce,  effective on 1 January 1993.  In 1991 the legislature specified that the chairman of the Industrial Commission was to serve thereafter as a chief judicial and executive  officer under rules and policies established by the State Personnel Commission.  Under the same act, the governor was authorized to designate one of the other commissioners as the vice-chairman.  REFERENCES:  P.L., 1929, c. 120.  P.L., 1931, c. 274, ss. 4, 14.  S.L., 1943, c. 530.  S.L., 1951, c. 1059.  S.L., 1955, c. 1026, ss. 11-12 1/2.  S.L., 1965, c. 937.  S.L., 1971, c. 864, s. 17(7).  S.L., 1973, cc. 634, 955.  S.L., 1977, c. 1048.  S.L., 1986, c. 1008.  S.L., 1987, c. 730, ss. 14-17.  S.L., 1989, c. 751, ss. 1-2.  S.L., 1991, cc. 264, 959.  G.S., 97-1 through 97-86, 143B-433 [1992].  Corbitt, David Leroy, ed. PUBLIC PAPERS AND LETTERS OF ANGUS WILTON   MCLEAN, GOVERNOR OF NORTH CAROLINA, 1925-1929.  Raleigh:  Council of   State, 1931.  Pp. 35-36.  ---.  PUBLIC PAPERS AND LETTERS OF OLIVER MAX GARDNER, GOVERNOR OF NORTH   CAROLINA, 1929-1933.  Raleigh:  Council of State, 1937.  Pp. 7-8.  Industrial Commission.  TENTH BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE NORTH CAROLINA   INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION:  BIENNIUM OF 1946-47, 1947-48.  Raleigh,   1948.  P. 11.  ---.  TWENTY-NINTH BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE NORTH   CAROLINA INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION:  BIENNIUM OF 1984-1985, 1985-   1986.  Raleigh, 1986.  Pp. 1-4, 10.  Institute for Government Research of the Brookings Institution.   REPORT ON A SURVEY OF THE ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION OF   THE STATE GOVERNMENT OF NORTH CAROLINA.  Washington, D.C., 1930.   Pp. 267-268.  Powell, William S.  NORTH CAROLINA THROUGH FOUR CENTURIES.  Chapel   Hill :   University of North Carolina Press, 1989.     Pp. 478, 496-497."},{"label":"Digital Characteristics","value":"1 page"},{"label":"Format","value":["Finding aids"]},{"label":"Rights","value":"This item is provided courtesy of the State Archives of North Carolina and is a public record according to G.S.132."},{"label":"Source Collections","value":["Industrial Commission Records. 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