33 U.S.C. § 915
Section 915 · Invalid agreements
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 20 court decisions — leading case Strachan Shipping Co. v. Nash (1986)
Most recently applied in Ramey ex rel. Ramey v. Director, Office of Workers' Compensation Programs (April 2003)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
(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 chapter shall be valid, and any employer who makes a deduction for such purpose from the pay of any employee entitled to the benefits of this chapter shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not more than $1,000.
(b) No agreement by an employee to waive his right to compensation under this chapter shall be valid.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Cross References
Settlement of claim, where deputy commissioner determines it is for the best interest of injured employee, notwithstanding provision of subsec. (b) of this section, see section 908 of this title.