Senate Bill No. 14

(By Senator Hunter)

____________

[Introduced January 9, 2002; referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.]

____________




A BILL to amend and reenact section fifteen, article four, chapter twenty-three of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to the time within which an employee may file an application for workers' compensation benefits following an injury.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section fifteen, article four, chapter twenty-three of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 4. DISABILITY AND DEATH BENEFITS.

§23-4-15. Application for benefits.
(a) To entitle any employee or dependent of a deceased employee to compensation under this chapter, other than for occupational pneumoconiosis or other occupational disease, the application therefor must be made on the form or forms prescribed by the division and filed with the division within six months from and after the injury or death, as the case may be, or within six months from and after the nature and extent of the employee's injury was made known to him or her by a physician or the nature and extent of which he or she should reasonably have known, whichever last occurs, and unless so filed within such the six month period, the right to compensation under this chapter shall be is forever barred, such the time limitation being hereby declared to be a condition of the right and hence jurisdictional, and all proofs of dependency in fatal cases must likewise be filed with the division within six months from and after the death. In case the employee is mentally or physically incapable of filing such the application, it may be filed by his or her attorney or by a member of his or her family.
(b) To entitle any employee to compensation for occupational pneumoconiosis under the provisions hereof, the application therefor must be made on the form or forms prescribed by the division and filed with the division within three years from and after the last day of the last continuous period of sixty days or more during which the employee was exposed to the hazards of occupational pneumoconiosis or within three years from and after the employee's occupational pneumoconiosis was made known to him or her by a physician or which he or she should reasonably have known, whichever shall last occur occurs, and unless so filed within such the three-year period, the right to compensation under this chapter shall be is forever barred, such the time limitation being hereby declared to be a condition of the right and hence jurisdictional, or, in the case of death, the application shall be filed as aforesaid by the dependent of such the employee within one year from and after such employee's death, and such the time limitation is a condition of the right and hence jurisdictional.
(c) To entitle any employee to compensation for occupational disease other than occupational pneumoconiosis under the provisions hereof, the application therefor must be made on the form or forms prescribed by the division and filed with the division within three years from and after the day on which the employee was last exposed to the particular occupational hazard involved or within three years from and after the employee's occupational disease was made known to him or her by a physician or which he or she should reasonably have known, whichever shall last occur occurs, and unless so filed within such three-year period, the right to compensation under this chapter shall be is forever barred, such the time limitation being hereby declared to be a condition of the right and hence jurisdictional, or, in case of death, the application shall be filed as aforesaid by the dependent of such the employee within one year from and after such the employee's death, and such the time limitation is a condition of the right and hence jurisdictional.


NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to change the time within which an employee can file an application for workers' compensation benefits by providing that the application may be filed within six months from and after the nature and extent of the employee's injury was made known to the employee by a physician or the nature and extent of which the employee should reasonably have known, whichever last occurs.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.