(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].

SOURCE: GC § 37014. Subsection (m) amended by P.L. 16-001:9 (Feb.
9, 1981); repealed and reenacted by P.L. 19-035:6 (Dec. 30, 1988);
amended by P.L. 35-065:5 (Feb. 12, 2020). Subsection (n) added by P.L.
25-003:IV:2 (Mar. 25, 1999); repealed by P.L. 25-091:IV:3 (Dec. 22,
1999). Subsection (j) repealed and reenacted by P.L. 25-072:IV:01 (Sept.
30, 1999).

2020 NOTE: The amendment pursuant to P.L 35-065 (Feb. 12, 2020)
shall apply to claims filed 120 days after enactment.

Past publications of the GCA stated subsection (j) was “”amended”” by P.L. 25-072; however, review of legislative history indicates this law “”repealed and reenacted”” subsection (j).

Pursuant to the authority granted by 1 GCA § 1606, the previous
Compiler corrected manifest errors in subsection (h).