Changes in workers' compensation laws in 2003: new and revised legislation further defined coverage and services under the workers' compensation laws of various States - Worker's Compensation, 2003

Monthly Labor Review, Jan, 2004 by Glenn Whittington

North Dakota

The name of the Workers' Compensation Bureau was changed to the Workforce Safety and Insurance Organization.

The term "staffing service" was further delineated to include professional employer organizations' staff leasing companies, employee leasing organizations, and temporary staffing companies. The term is broadly construed to encompass entities that offer services of a professional employer organization, staff leasing company, employee leasing organization, or temporary staffing company, regardless of the term used.

Ohio

Funeral expenses were increased from an amount not to exceed $3,200 to an amount not to exceed $5,500.

"Subrogation interest" includes past, present, and estimated future payments of compensation, medical benefits, rehabilitation costs, or death benefits, and any other costs of expenses paid to, or on behalf of, the claimant by the statutory subrogee.

"Net amount recovered" is the amount of any award, settlement, compromise, or recovery by a claimant against a third party, minus the attorney's fee, costs, or other recovery. "Net amount recovered" does not include punitive damages that may be awarded by a judge or jury.

An employer who, on religious grounds, conscientiously objects to the acceptance of public or private death, disability, old age, retirement, or healthcare benefits is permitted to exempt from coverage under the workers' compensation law and payment of premiums and assessments under the law, an individual who on religious grounds conscientiously objects to the acceptance of public or private death, disability, old age, retirement, or healthcare benefits.

Special confidentiality provisions were established for records of peer review committees of the Bureau of Workers' Compensation responsible for reviewing the professional qualifications and the performance of providers conducting medical examinations or file reviews for the Bureau.

Noncertified healthcare providers are prohibited from charging an employee, employer, managed care organization, or the Bureau of Workers' Compensation any amount for covered services or supplies that are in excess of the allowed amount paid (certified healthcare providers were already so prohibited).

Oregon

The distinction between scheduled and unscheduled awards for permanent partial disability was eliminated. All workers with permanent disability will now receive an impairment benefit, which pays all workers at the same rate, based on the State's average weekly wage, per percentage of impairment. Workers unable to return to regular work also will receive a work disability benefit based on the impairment, modified by age, education, and adaptability factors and the workers' earnings at the time of injury. Wage-based work disability benefits will be limited to a wage range between 50 percent and 133 percent of the State's average weekly wage, and these limits will adjust annually.

The administrative law judge assigned a request for hearing a claim for compensation involving more than one potentially responsible employer or insurer may specify what is required of an injured worker to reason ably cooperate with the investigation of the claim.