NWCDN Members regularly post articles and summary judgements in workers’ compensations law in your state.
Select a state from the dropdown menu below to scroll through the state specific archives for updates and opinions on various workers’ compensation laws in your state.
Contact information for NWCDN members is also located on the state specific links in the event you have additional questions or your company is seeking a workers’ compensation lawyer in your state.
JSB ATTORNEYS, PLLC
May 14, 2021
Legislation Enacted
Senate Bill 49: AN ACT relating to home and community based services waiver providers.(Effective June 28, 2021)
· Amend KRS 337.010 to exclude providers of certain home or community based services from the definition of employee in regards to payment of wages; amend KRS 342.650 to exempt certain home or community based services from coverage in regards to workers’ compensation; amend KRS 341.055 to exclude certain home or community based services from “covered employment” in regards to unemployment compensation.
Senate Bill 141 - AN ACT relating to the coal workers' pneumoconiosis fund.(Effective June 28, 2021)
· Amend KRS 342.1242 and KRS 342.1243 to provide guidelines for distribution of funds remaining in the Kentucky coal workers' pneumoconiosis fund.
House Bill 48 - AN ACT relating to reimbursement for pharmacist services. (Effective June 28, 2021)
· Create a new section of Subtitle 12 of KRS Chapter 304 to establish certain insurance practices relating to the reimbursement of pharmacists; amend KRS 304.14-135 to establish a clean claim form for the reimbursement of certain pharmacist services or procedures; amend KRS 304.17A-844 and 304.17B-011 to conform; amend KRS 18A.225 to require the state employee health plan to comply with pharmacist reimbursement requirements; amend KRS 342.020 to require workers' compensation employers, insurers, and payment obligors to comply with pharmacist reimbursement requirements.
House Bill 349 – AN ACT relating to legislative committees. (Effective June 28, 2021)
· Amend KRS 11.202, 304.13-340, 304.50-160, 341.240, 342.035, 342.1223, 342.230, 342.342, 342.765, and 342.817 to change the name of the committee of the General Assembly which shall receive agency reports.
Legislation proposed but not passed
Senate Bill 85 – AN ACT relating to workers' compensation for volunteer firemen and other emergency personnel.
· Amend KRS 342.140 to allow income benefits for volunteer firemen, police, and emergency management agency members or trainees to be based on fifty percent of the state average weekly wage if that is greater than the average weekly wage of their regular employment.
· 01/07/21: introduced in Senate to Committee on Committees (S); 02/02/21: to Economic Development, Tourism, & Labor (S)
Senate Bill 157 - AN ACT relating to workers' compensation.
· Amend KRS 342.610 to provide that contractors shall not be liable for payment of compensation to subcontractors with no employees who are not subject to KRS Chapter 342.
· 02/03/21: introduced in Senate to Committee on Committees (S); 02/09/21: to Economic Development, Tourism, & Labor (S)
House Bill 242 - AN ACT relating to the recognition and registration of professional employer organizations.
· Create new sections of KRS Chapter 336 to declare that professional employer organizations provide a valuable service to commerce and should be properly recognized and regulated; define "client," "co-employer," "co-employment relationship," "covered employee," "insurer," "professional employer organization group," "person," "professional employer agreement," "professional employer organization," "professional employer services," "registrant," and "temporary help service"; indicate that covered employees shall be deemed employees of the client for purposes of determining tax credits or economic incentives; require a person providing professional employer services to be registered and to set forth the registration requirements; require professional employer organizations to pay a registration fee; require a professional employer organization to either maintain positive working capital or provide a bond, letter of credit, or security; set forth the rights and responsibilities of parties to a co-employment agreement; set forth the health insurance obligations of professional employer organizations; set forth the workers' compensation requirements of professional employer organizations and the client; set forth the unemployment insurance obligations of the professional employer organization and the client; prohibit a person from knowingly providing professional employer services without becoming registered and set forth actions that may be taken by the Department of Workers' Claims against any person in violation; amend the definition of "premium" in KRS 342.0011 to include co-employment relationships with a professional employer organization; amend KRS 342.990 to delete references to KRS 342.615; repeal KRS 342.615; state that the provisions of this Act are severable.
· 02/09/21: introduced in House to Committee on Committees (H); 02/10/21: to Small Business & Information Technology (H)
House Bill 385 – AN ACT relating to employment.
· Amend KRS 337.010 to remove exemptions in definition of employee for agricultural workers and domestic service workers; amend KRS 342.630 to indicate that agricultural employers are subject to KRS Chapter 342; amend KRS 342.650 to remove exemptions for domestic service employees and agricultural employees from coverage under KRS Chapter 342; amend other statutes to conform.
· 02/04/21: introduced in House to Committee on Committees (H)
House Bill 529 - AN ACT relating to workers' compensation.
· Amend KRS 342.610 to exclude certain levels of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol in the blood from the presumption that an injury was caused by the introduction of certain substances into the employee's body.
· 02/22/21: introduced in House to Committee on Committees (H)
House Bill 59 - AN ACT relating to workers' compensation.
· Amend KRS 342.020 to require an employer to pay for medical benefits at the time of injury and thereafter during disability instead of 780 weeks; amend KRS 342.990 to conform.
· 01/05/21: to Committee on Committees (H)
House Bill 62 - AN ACT relating to occupational disease claims.
· Amend KRS 342.125 to remove the requirement that an affected employee previously diagnosed with occupational pneumoconiosis resulting from exposure to coal dust must have an additional two years of employment in the Commonwealth wherein the employee was continuously exposed to the hazards of the disease in order to reopen a claim.
· 01/05/21: to Committee on Committees (H)
House Bill 282 - AN ACT relating to workers' compensation.
· Amend KRS 342.315 to eliminate the requirement that physicians contracting with the commissioner of the Department of Workers' Claims to perform evaluations in occupational disease claims be "B" readers who are licensed in Kentucky and are board-certified pulmonary specialists; amend KRS 342.316 to allow the commissioner to select a physician or medical facility for referral in occupational disease claims and eliminate the requirement that such physicians be "B" readers who are licensed in Kentucky and are board-certified pulmonary specialists; amend KRS 342.794 to delete the definition of "board-certified pulmonary specialist" and eliminate the requirement that physicians on the list of qualified "B" readers maintained by the commissioner include only those licensed in Kentucky and board-certified pulmonary specialists.
· 02/02/21: to Committee on Committees (H)
House Bill 500 - AN ACT relating to workers' compensation for first responders.
· Amend KRS 342.0011 to clarify definition of "injury" to include psychological injuries for certain employees; create a new section of KRS Chapter 342 to set out when the psychological injuries are valid workers' compensation claims when no physical injury exists.
· 02/10/21: to Committee on Committees (H)
House Bill 479 - AN ACT relating to legal actions involving the Commonwealth of Kentucky and declaring an emergency.
· Amend KRS 15.020 to authorize the Attorney General to bring an action regarding the constitutionality of statutes, regulations, and orders; establish venue; amend KRS 15.060 to authorize assistance from other areas of state government regarding investigations and prosecutions of various matters; amend KRS 15.113 to identify additional illegal or fraudulent activity under the investigative authority of the Attorney General; amend KRS 15.240 to expand the statutes under which the Attorney General can initiate an action or intervene in an action; amend KRS 342.760 and 342.765 to transfer the legal representation and reporting requirements regarding the uninsured employers fund from the Attorney General to the Labor Cabinet; amend KRS 446.350 to establish a waiver of sovereign immunity under limited situations; EMERGENCY.
· 03/11/21: recommitted to Appropriations & Revenue (H)
Should you have any questions or wish to discuss any of these matters personally, please contact us at your convenience.
H. Douglas Jones, Esq.
Margo J. Menefee, Esq.