SB823: Workers' compensation; presumption that certain injuries are work related.


SENATE BILL NO. 823
AMENDMENT IN THE NATURE OF A SUBSTITUTE
(Proposed by the Senate Committee on Commerce and Labor
on January 31, 2011)
(Patron Prior to Substitute--Senator Edwards)
A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding in Chapter 1 of Title 65.2 a section numbered 65.2-105, relating to a presumption that certain injuries occurring at a workplace are work related.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That the Code of Virginia is amended by adding in Chapter 1 of Title 65.2 a section numbered 65.2-105 as follows:

§ 65.2-105. Presumption that certain injuries are work related.

In any claim for compensation, where the employee is physically or mentally unable to testify as confirmed by competent medical evidence and where there is unrebutted prima facie evidence that indicates that the injury was work related, it shall be presumed, in the absence of a preponderance of evidence to the contrary, that the injury was work related.

SENATE BILL NO. 823
Offered January 12, 2011
Prefiled January 6, 2011
A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding in Chapter 1 of Title 65.2 a section numbered 65.2-105, relating to a presumption that certain injuries occurring at a workplace arise out of employment.
Patron-- Edwards

Referred to Committee on Commerce and Labor

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1.  That the Code of Virginia is amended by adding in Chapter 1 of Title 65.2 a section numbered 65.2-105 as follows:

§ 65.2-105. Presumption that certain injuries arise out of employment.

A. Where an employee is found dead or to have incurred a severe brain injury at his place of work or in a nearby location where his duties may have called him during his hours of work, his injuries shall be presumed to be by accident arising out of employment unless such presumption is overcome by a preponderance of competent evidence.

B. As used in this section, "severe brain injury" means damage to the brain resulting from external mechanical force that temporarily or permanently impairs the employee's brain function to such an extent that the employee is incapable of recalling the relevant circumstances of the accident.