Title 22 — Business Regulation

Chapter 9 of Title 22, Guam Code Annotated is amended to make its title Worker's Compensation and throughout the Chapter the word worker is substituted in the place of workman. SOURCE: GC § 37000. Amended by P.L. 16-001:1 (Feb. 9, 1981).

[Repealed]. SOURCE: GC § 37001, which was repealed in its entirety by P.L. 11- 074:1 July 20, 1971).

(a) Adoption or Adopted. This term means legal adoption prior to the time of the injury. (b) Carrier. This term includes stock corporations or mutual associations from which any employer has obtained workers' compensation insurance or guaranty insurance in accordance with the pro…

(a) Compensation shall be payable under this Title in case of disability or death of an employee, but only if the disability or death results from an injury sustained while engaged in industrial employment or public employment or both as defined in § 9103. (b) Employers, who hire…

(a) Every employer shall be liable for and shall secure payment to his employees of the compensation payable under §§ 9108, 9109, and 9110. In the case of an employer who is a subcontractor, the contractor shall be liable for and shall secure payment of such compensation to emplo…

The liability of an employer prescribed in § 9104 shall be exclusive and in place of all other liability of such employer to the employee, his legal representative, husband or wife, parents, dependents, next of kin, any and all third party claimants who may generally possess a cl…

Maximum and Minimum Compensation. (a) No compensation shall be allowed for the first three (3) days of the disability, except for the benefits provided for in § 9108; provided, however, that in case the injury results in disability of more than fourteen (14) days, the compensatio…

(a) The employer shall furnish such medical, surgical, and other attendance or treatment, nurse, hospital service, medicine, crutches, and apparatus for such period as the nature of the injury or the process of recovery may require. If the employer fails to provide the same, afte…

Compensation for disability shall be paid to the employee as follows: (a) Permanent total disability. In case of total disability, adjudged to be permanent, sixty-six and two- thirds (66-2/3) per centum of his average weekly wages shall be paid to the employee during the continua…

If the injury causes death, the compensation shall be known as a death benefit and shall be payable in the amount and to or for the benefit of the persons following: (a) Reasonable funeral expenses not exceeding Seven Thousand Four Hundred Thirty-five Dollars ($7,435). (b) If the…

Except as otherwise provided in this Title, the average weekly wage of the injured employee at the time of the injury shall be taken as the basis upon which to compute compensation and shall be determined as follows: (a) If the injured employee shall have worked in the occupation…

The Commissioner may require the appointment of a guardian or other representative, by a court of competent jurisdiction, for any person who is mentally incompetent or a minor; such guardian or representative to receive compensation payable to such person under this Title and to …

(a) Notice of an injury or death for which compensation is payable under this Title, shall be given within thirty (30) days after the date of such injury or death (1) to the Commissioner and (2) to the employer. (b) Such notice shall be in writing; shall contain the name and addr…

(a) The right of compensation for disability and death under this Title shall be barred unless a claim therefor is filed within one (1) year after medical knowledge of disability or death. The time for filing a claim shall not begin to run until the employee or beneficiary become…

(a) Compensation under this Title shall be paid periodically, promptly, and directly to the person entitled thereto, without an award, except where liability to pay compensation is controverted by the employer. (b) The first installment of compensation shall become due on the fou…

(a) No agreement by an employee to pay any portion of premium paid by his employer to a carrier or to contribute to a benefit fund or department maintained by such employer for the purpose of providing compensation or medical services and supplies as required by this Title shall …

Creditors. No assignment, release, or commutation of compensation or benefits due to payable under this Title, except as provided by this Title, shall be valid, and such compensation and benefits shall be exempt from all claims of creditors and from levy, execution, and attachmen…

Any person entitled to compensation under the provisions of this Title shall have a lien against the assets of the carrier or employer for such compensation without limit or amount, and shall, upon insolvency, bankruptcy, or reorganization in bankruptcy proceedings of the carrier…

In case of default by the employer in the payment of compensation due under any award of compensation due under any award of compensation for a period of thirty (30) days after the compensation is due and payable, the person to whom such compensation is payable may, within one (1…

(a) Subject to the provisions of § 9114, a claim for compensation may be filed with the Commissioner in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Commission at any time after the first seven (7) days of disability following any injury, or at any time after death, and the Comm…

In any proceeding for the enforcement of a claim for compensation under this Title, it shall be presumed, in the absence of substantial evidence to the contrary: (a) That the claim comes within the provision of this Title. (b) That sufficient notice of such claim has been given. …

(a) A compensation order shall become effective when filed in the office of the Commissioner as provided in § 9120, and, unless proceedings for the suspension or setting aside of such order are instituted as provided in subsection (b) of this section, shall become final at the ex…

Upon his own initiative, or upon the application of any party in interest, on the ground of a change in conditions or because of a mistake in a determination of fact by the Commissioner, the Commissioner may, at any time prior to one (1) year after the date of the last payment of…

(a) In making an investigation or inquiry, or conducting a hearing, the Commissioner shall not be bound by common law or statutory rules of evidence or by technical or formal rule of procedure, except as provided by this Title, but may make such investigation or inquiry, or condu…

No person shall be required to attend as a witness in any proceeding before the Commissioner at a place outside Guam; but the testimony of any witness may be taken by deposition or interrogatories according to the rules of practice of the Superior Court. SOURCE: GC § 37024. 2020 …

Witnesses summoned in a proceeding before the Commissioner or whose depositions are taken may receive the same fees and mileage as witnesses in the Superior Court. SOURCE: GC § 37025.

Grounds. If the court having jurisdiction of proceedings in respect of any claim or compensation order determines that the proceedings in respect of such claim or order have been instituted or continued without reasonable ground, the costs of such proceedings shall be assessed ag…

(a) The Commissioner shall have power to preserve and enforce order during any such proceedings; to issue subpoenas for, to administer oaths to, and to compel the attendance and testimony of witness, or the production of books, papers, documents, and other evidence, or the taking…

(a) No claim for attorney's fees or for any other services rendered in respect of a claim or award for compensation, to or on account of any person, shall be valid unless approved by the Commissioner, whose approval shall not be unreasonably withheld, or if proceedings for review…

Every employer shall keep a record in respect of any injury to an employee. Such record shall contain such information of disease, other disability, or death in respect of such injury as the Commission may by regulation require, and shall be available to inspection by the Commiss…

(a) Within ten (10) days from the date of any injury or death, or from the date that the employer has knowledge of a disease or infection in respect of such injury, the employer shall send to the Commission a report setting forth (1) the name, address, and business of the employe…

Any person who wilfully makes any false or misleading statement or representation for the purpose of obtaining any benefit or payment under this Title, or for the purpose of evading liability for any benefit or payment under this Title, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. SOURCE: G…

(a) Every employer shall secure the payment of compensation under this Title: (1) By insuring and keeping insured the payment of such compensation with any stock corporation or mutual association authorized by the Commission to transact the business of workers’ compensation insur…

Liable. When an injury for which compensation is payable under this Title shall have been sustained under circumstances creating in some person other than the employer a legal liability to pay damages in respect thereto, the injured employee may claim compensation under this Titl…

Nothing contained in § 9134 of this Title shall be deemed to create a cause of action by an injured employee against any co- employee, officer, agent or director of the employer. The right to compensation for benefits under the Worker's Compensations Law of Guam shall be the excl…

Every employer who has secured compensation under the provisions of this Title shall keep posted in a conspicuous place or places in and about his place or places of business, typewritten or printed notices, in accordance with a form prescribed by the Commission, stating that suc…

In any case where the employer is not a self-insurer, in order that the liability for compensation imposed by this Title may be most effectively discharged by the employer, and in order that the administration of this Title in respect of such liability may be facilitated, the Com…

(a) Every policy or contract of insurance issued under authority of this Title shall contain (1) a provision to carry out the provisions of § 9137 and (2) a provision that insolvency or bankruptcy of the employer or discharge therein, or both, shall not relieve the carrier from p…

All employers within the meaning of this Title shall within ninety (90) days after its enactment, file with the Workers' Compensation Commission a certificate that they have complied with the provisions of this Title requiring the securing of compensation to their employees. Any …

sation. (a) Any employer required to secure the payment of compensation under this Title who fails to secure such compensation shall be guilty of a misdemeanor; and in any case where such employer is a corporation, the president, secretary, and treasurer thereof shall be also sev…

(a) Except as otherwise specifically provided, the Workers’ Compensation Commission shall administer the provisions of this Title, and for such purpose the Commission is authorized: (1) to make rules and regulations in conformance with this Title; (2) to select such technical ass…

(a) The Commission shall make studies and investigations with respect to safety provisions and the causes of injuries in employments covered by this Title, and shall from time to time make to the Legislature and to employers and carriers such recommendations as it may deem proper…

(a) There is hereby established separate and apart from other funds of the government of Guam, a special fund to make payments in accordance with the provisions of subsection (f)(1) of § 9109 of this Title. Such fund shall be administered by the Commission. The Treasurer of Guam …

(a) There is hereby authorized to be established, out of any money in the Treasury of Guam not otherwise appropriated, a fund sufficient to secure the payment of benefits under this Chapter in respect of employees in public employment. (b) With respect to employees in public empl…

The Commission shall make to the Guam Legislature and the Governor at the beginning of each regular session a report of the administration of this Title for the preceding fiscal year, including a detailed statement of receipts of and expenditures from the funds established or aut…

Rates and amounts in §§ 9107(b)(1), 9109(c)(20), 9110(a), 9110(e), and 9115(m) of this Chapter shall automatically adjust to amounts equivalent to the per centum change in any increase to the minimum wage. SOURCE: Added by P.L. 35-065:6 (Feb. 12, 2020). 2020 NOTE: The amendment p…