§918 Collection of Defaulted Payments; Special Fund

Summary

If an employer fails to pay a compensation award for thirty days after it is due, the person owed can, within one year of that missed payment, ask the deputy commissioner who issued the award to declare how much is unpaid. After an investigation, notice, and a hearing under section 919, the deputy commissioner will issue a supplementary order showing the default amount. If the missed payment was one installment, the deputy commissioner may choose to call the entire award in default. The person owed can file a certified copy of that supplementary order with the clerk of the U.S. district court where the employer’s main office is or where the injury happened (or with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia if applicable). The supplementary order is final and the court will enter judgment for the amount if it follows the law. The judgment can be reviewed like a common-law damage suit. The court may use its usual writ of execution to enforce the judgment. No fee is required to file the order or enter judgment, and the applicant won’t pay review costs unless the court decides otherwise. The court must change the judgment to match any later compensation order when shown a certified copy. If the employer cannot pay because of insolvency or other reasons, the Secretary of Labor may, at his discretion and after considering current commitments from the special fund in section 944, pay awards from that fund and provide medical or other treatment required by section 907 when the employer failed to do so due to insolvency. The employer must repay the fund for amounts the Secretary pays. To recover those payments, the Secretary of Labor steps into the rights of the person who was paid and may sue the employer under this section or under subsection (c) of section 921, or may settle the claim.