Workers'Compensation Disability Benefits

The bill allows a claimant for workers' compensation benefits to refuse an offer of modified employment if the employment requires the claimant to drive to and from work and the treating physician has restricted the claimant from driving.

The bill adds the loss of an ear to the list of other body parts for which an injured worker can receive whole person permanent impairment benefits.

Current law limits the amount of money that a claimant for workers' compensation benefits may receive dependent on the claimant's impairment rating. The bill removes these and replaces them with one limit of $300,000, adjusted annually by the director of the division of workers' compensation The bill allows a claimant for workers' compensation benefits to refuse an offer of modified employment if the employment would require the claimant to drive and the claimant's driving has been restricted. increases the current limitations on the amount of money a claimant may claim based on the claimant's impairment rating :

• For an impairment rating of 19% or less, from $75,00 to $185,000; and
• For an impairment rating greater than 19%, from $150,000 to $300,00.

The bill requires a workers' compensation insurer to pay benefits to a claimant by direct deposit upon request by the claimant.

(Note: Italicized words indicate new material added to the original summary; dashes through words indicate deletions from the original summary.)

(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)