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Workers' Compensation

Passed

P HB50

Workers' compensation; occupational disease presumption; police officers of Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. Establishes a presumption that hypertension or heart disease causing the death or disability of an officer of the police department established and maintained by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority is an occupational disease compensable under the Workers' Compensation Act. This presumption applies only for periods that the Authority voluntarily subjects itself to the provisions of the Workers' Compensation Act.
Patron - Black

P HB78

Workers' Compensation Commission; availability of records to the Virginia Retirement System. Requires that records of the Workers' Compensation Commission be made available to the Virginia Retirement System upon request.
Patron - Bryant

P HB568

Workers' compensation; disallowance of compensation. Provides that clear and convincing evidence is required to overcome the presumption that an employee who either had a blood alcohol level equal to or greater than 0.08 percent or yields a positive test result for use of a nonprescribed controlled substance from a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA) certified laboratory was intoxicated due to consuming alcohol or using a nonprescribed controlled substance at the time of his injury. The measure also provides that the presumption of intoxication shall not be available if the employee dies as the result of his injuries. Currently, an injury or death is not compensible under the Workers' Compensation Act if it is caused by the employee's intoxication or use of a nonprescribed controlled substance.
Patron - Byron

P HB757

Workers' compensation; infectious disease presumption. Creates a presumption that hepatitis, meningococcal meningitis, tuberculosis or HIV causing the death or disability of firefighters, paramedics, emergency medical technicians, members of the State Police Officers' Retirement System, members of county, city or town police departments, sheriffs and deputy sheriffs, city sergeants or deputy city sergeants of the City of Richmond, Virginia Marine Patrol officers, certain game wardens, and Capitol Police officers who are exposed to blood or body fluids are occupational diseases for the purposes of workers' compensation. The presumptions shall apply only if persons entitled to invoke them have, if requested, undergone preemployment physical examinations, and the presumptions shall be effective until six months following the examinations.
Patron - Amundson

P HB761

Workers' compensation; claims administration. Requires the Commission, by July 1, 2003, to institute an expedited calendar for the administration of workers' compensation claims where an employer's denial of benefits satisfies criteria establishing that the delay will cause an injured employee to incur severe economic hardship.
Patron - Watts

P HB1237

Workers' compensation; occupational disease. Grants to commercial vehicle enforcement officers and motor carrier safety troopers employed by the Department of State Police and full-time sworn members of the enforcement division of the Department of Motor Vehicles the presumption that certain cancers are occupational diseases under the Workers' Compensation Act. The bill also includes in the definition of "firefighter" any person who is employed by or contracts with any private employer primarily to provide firefighting services.
Patron - Jones, J.C.

P HB1239

Workers' Compensation; payments to minor. Permits periodic weekly, monthly or quarterly payments to be made to a surviving spouse or parent for the use and benefit of a minor child upon the written receipt of the surviving spouse or parent. The Workers' Compensation Commission may require the surviving spouse or parent to file an annual written certification confirming that the payments were used for the benefit of the minor. Also, the bill increases from $10,000 to $15,000 the amount a parent may receive in a lump sum payment on behalf of a minor compensated for injuries under Workers' Compensation. This applies to payments made after the effective date of this act.
Patron - Suit

P SB158

Workers' compensation; covered employees. Clarifies that secretaries and administrative assistants of members and officers of the General Assembly who are compensated pursuant to the general appropriation act are deemed to be employees of the Commonwealth for purposes of the Workers' Compensation Act.
Patron - Chichester

P SB588

Professional employer organizations; notice of insurance cancellation. Reduces the required time period for professional employer organizations to notify client companies of cancellation of insurance by the insurer from 15 to seven calendar days.
Patron - Wagner

P SB669

Workers' compensation; proof of insurance coverage. Permits an employer who provides proof of insurance coverage to the Workers' Compensation Commission to have his insurance carrier make such a filing. The filing requirement shall be satisfied if proof of coverage includes the insured's name, address, employer identification number, policy number, dates of insurance coverage, and the insurer's name, address and identification number. Proof of coverage filed by an insurance carrier or rate service organization shall not be aggregated with proof of coverage filed by or on behalf of other employers.
Patron - Williams

Failed

F HB273

Workers' compensation; payment of medical expenses after award. Requires the Workers' Compensation Commission, if it finds that the employer or insurer unreasonably delayed or denied payment of the employee's medical expenses, to award interest on the amount paid for such medical attention, to the employee, or health care provider if the health care provider has not been paid, at the judgment rate of nine percent from the date the Commission deems the delay or denial unreasonable until the date paid.
Patron - Broman

F HB762

Workers' compensation; health insurance benefits. Requires any employer that provided a health insurance benefit to an employee who is totally incapacitated as a result of an injury to either (i) pay the amount of the health insurance benefit to the employee, (ii) allow the employee to continue to participate in the employer's health insurance plan and receive the same benefit that he received when he was injured, or (iii) reimburse the employee's costs of COBRA continuation of coverage under the health insurance plan.
Patron - Watts

F HB763

Workers' compensation; bad faith nonpayment of claims; claims administration. Requires an employer who denies, fails or refuses to pay a claim to pay interest on the amount due at double the judgment rate from the date the employer denied, failed or refused to make the payment, if the Workers' Compensation Commission finds that the denial, refusal or failure to pay was not made in good faith. The measure also requires the Commission, by July 1, 2003, to institute an expedited calendar for the administration of workers' compensation claims where an employer's denial of benefits is alleged to cause an injured employee to incur severe economic hardship.
Patron - Watts

F HB848

Workers' compensation; permanent partial impairment of spine. Provides that an employee who suffers a permanent impairment to the neck, back or spinal column that is not otherwise compensable for loss of use of a limb is entitled to lifetime benefits at the rate of 66 2/3 percent of the injured employee's average weekly wage multiplied by the percentage of the impairment.
Patron - Stump

F HB865

Workers' compensation; termination of benefits. Requires the filing of an agreement between the employer and the employee or, in absence of such an agreement, the entering of an order by the Commission before workers' compensation benefits may be terminated.
Patron - Phillips

F HB879

Workers' compensation; change in condition. Limits the period for which the Workers' Compensation Commission may retroactively increase an injured employee's benefit as the result of a change in condition to the 120 days preceding the filing of the application for increase. Currently, the rules of the Workers' Compensation Commission limit the period to 90 days, and provide that the limitation does not apply to requests for cost of living supplements.
Patron - Phillips

F HB930

Workers' compensation; permanent loss of teeth. Provides compensation for an employee's permanent loss of a tooth. The amount of compensation is two-thirds of the employee's average weekly wage for a period of five weeks.
Patron - Joannou

Carried Over

C HB714

Virginia Birth-Related Neurological Injury Compensation Act. Transfers jurisdiction to determine eligibility and make awards regarding birth-related neurological injuries from the Workers' Compensation Commission to circuit courts. The board of directors of the Birth-Related Neurological Injury Compensation Program is eliminated, and management of the Birth-Related Neurological Injury Compensation Fund is transferred to the Virginia Retirement System. Participation in the Program by physicians and hospitals is mandatory, and failure to pay assessments will waive liability limits currently applicable to medical malpractice claims. The measure also provides that the Act does not deprive a parent of the right to bring a wrongful death action if a child who would be eligible for benefits under the Program dies shortly after birth.
Patron - Armstrong

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