Guam § 9115 - Payment of Compensation.

§ 9115. Payment of Compensation.

(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 fourteenth (14th) day after the employer has knowledge of

the injury or death, on which date all compensation then due

shall be paid. Thereafter, compensation shall be paid in semi-

monthly installment except where the Commissioner determines

that payment in installments should be made monthly or at some

other interval.

(c) Upon making the first payment, and upon suspension of

payment for any cause, the employer shall immediately notify

the Commissioner, in accordance with a form prescribed by the

Commission, that payment of compensation has begun or has

been suspended, as the case may be.

(d) If the employer controverts the right to compensation, he

shall file with the Commissioner, on or before the fourteenth

(14th) day after he has knowledge of the alleged injury or death,

a notice in accordance with a form prescribed by the

Commission, stating that the right to compensation is

controverted, the name of the claimant, the name of the

employer, the date of the alleged injury or death, and the grounds

upon which the right to compensation is controverted.

(e) If any installment of compensation payable without an

award is not paid within fourteen (14) days after it becomes due,

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as provided in subsection (b) of this section, there shall be added

to such unpaid installment an amount equal to ten (10) per

centum thereof, which shall be paid at the same time as, but in

addition to, such installment unless notice is filed under

subsection (d) of this section, or unless such nonpayment is

excused by the Commissioner after a showing by the employer

that owing to conditions over which he had no control such

installment could not be paid within the period prescribed for the

payment.

(f) If any compensation, payable under the terms of an

award, is not paid within ten (10) days after it becomes due,

there shall be added to such unpaid compensation an amount

equal to twenty (20) per centrum thereof which shall be paid at

the same time as, but in addition to, such compensation unless

review of the compensation order making such award is had as

provided in § 9122, and an interlocutory injunction staying

payment is allowed by the court as provided therein.

(g) Within sixteen (16) days after final payment of

compensation has been made, the employer shall send to the

Commissioner a notice, in accordance with a form prescribed by

the Commission, stating that such final payment has been made,

the total amount of compensation paid, the name of the

employee, and of any other person to whom compensation has

been paid, the date of the injury or death, and the date up to

which compensation has been paid. If the employer fails to

notify the commissioner within such time the Commission shall

assess against such employer a civil penalty in the amount of one

hundred dollars ($100.00).

(h) The Commissioner (1) may upon his own initiative at

any time in a case in which payments are being made without an

award and (2) shall in any case where right to compensation is

controverted, or where payments of compensation have been

stopped or suspended, upon receipt of notice from any person

entitled to compensation, or from the employer that the right to

compensation is controverted, or that payment of compensation

has been stopped or suspended, make such investigation, cause

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such medical examinations to be made, or hold such hearings,

and take such further action as he considers will properly protect

the rights of all parties.

(i) Whenever the Commissioner deems it advisable he may

require any employer to make a deposit with the Treasurer of

Guam to secure the prompt and convenient payment of such

compensation; and payments from such deposits upon any

awards shall be made by the Treasurer upon order of the

Commissioner.

(j) Whenever the Commissioner determines that it is in the

interest of justice, the liability of the employer for compensation

or any part thereof, as determined by the Commissioner, may,

with the approval of the Commission, be discharged by the

payment of a lump sum equal to the present value of future

compensation payments computed at four (4) percentum true

discount compounded annually; provided, however, that with

respect to government of Guam employees, no determination for

a lump sum payment of compensation which is meant to replace

wages may be made, unless a rational basis for such lump sum

payment of compensation exists, without which the employee’s

or employee’s family’s welfare would suffer from the inability to

maintain the level of lifestyle in existence immediately prior to

the disability. The probability of the death of the injured

employee or other person entitled to compensation before the

expiration of the period during which the employee is entitled to

compensation shall be determined in accordance with the

American Experience Table of Mortality, and the probability of

the remarriage of the surviving spouse shall be determined in

accordance with the Remarriage Tables of the Dutch Royal

Insurance Institution. The probability of the happening of any

other contingency affecting the amount or duration of the

compensation shall be disregarded.

(k) If the employer has made advance payments of

compensation, he shall be entitled to be reimbursed out of any

unpaid installment or installments of compensation due.

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(l) An injured employee or, in case of death, his dependents

or personal representative shall give receipts for payment of

compensation to the employer paying the same and such

employer shall produce the same for inspection by the

Commissioner, whenever required.

(m) The total compensation, excluding medical services

and supplies, payable under this Title for any injury or death

shall in no event exceed the sum of Two Hundred Six Thousand

Five Hundred Seventy Dollars ($206,570). In cases of disability

compensable under § 9109(c)(21), the total compensation for

such disability, and for any temporary partial disability sustained

in addition therein, shall not exceed in the aggregate the sum of

Two Hundred Six Thousand Five Hundred Seventy Dollars

($206,570).

(n) [Repealed].