§ 8. Consent by employer and employee to compensation plan. When and
if any employer in this state and any of his employees shall consent to
the compensation plan described in sections nine to fifteen, inclusive,
of this article, hereinafter referred to as the plan, and shall signify
their consent thereto in writing, signed by each of them or their
authorized agents, and acknowledged in the manner prescribed by law for
taking the acknowledgment of a conveyance of real property, and such
writing is filed with the county clerk of the county in which it is
signed by the employee, then so long as such consent has not expired or
been canceled as hereinafter provided, such employee, or in case injury
to him results in death, his executor or administrator, shall have no
other right of action against the employer for personal injury or death
of any kind, under any statute or at common law, save under the plan so
consented to, except where personal injury to the employee is caused in
whole or in part by the failure of the employer to obey a valid order
made by the industrial commission or other public authority authorized
to require the employer to safeguard his employees, or where such injury
is caused by the serious or willful misconduct of the employer. In such
excepted cases thus described, no right of action which the employee has
at common law or by any other statute shall be affected or lost by his
consent to the plan, if such employee, or in case of death his executor
or administrator, commences such action before accepting any benefit
under such plan or giving any notice of injury as provided in section
nine hereof. The commencing of any legal action whatsoever at common law
or by any statute against the employer on account of such injury, except
under the plan, shall bar the employee, and in the event of his death
his executors, administrators, dependents and other beneficiaries, from
all benefit under the plan. This section and sections nine to fifteen,
inclusive, of this article shall not apply to a railroad corporation,
foreign or domestic, doing business in this state, or a receiver
thereof, or to any person employed by such corporation or receiver.