§383-162  Limitation of fees.  Noindividual shall be charged fees of any kind in any proceeding under thischapter by the department of labor and industrial relations or itsrepresentatives, or the referee, or by any court or any officer thereof, and nocosts shall be awarded by the referee on an appeal.  Any individual claimingbenefits in any proceeding before the department or the referee may berepresented by counsel or other duly authorized agent, but no such counsel oragent shall either charge or receive for such services more than an amountapproved by the department or referee, and such amount shall in no case exceedten per cent of the sum of the average benefit duration for the prior calendaryear as computed by the department of labor and industrial relations multipliedby the claimant's weekly benefit amount, payable as a result of suchproceeding.  For the purposes of this section, the term "average benefitduration" shall mean the average actual duration of benefits computed bydividing the total number of weeks compensated during a year by thecorresponding number of first payments made during the year.

Any person who violates this section shall, foreach such offense, be fined not less than $50 nor more than $500 or imprisonednot more than six months, or both. [L 1939, c 219, §13(b); am L 1941, c 304,§1, pt of subs 35; RL 1945, §4286; RL 1955, §93-151; am L Sp 1959 2d, c 1, §27;HRS §383-162; am L 1980, c 13, §1]