Senate Bill No. 218
(By Senator Hunter)
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[Introduced February 23, 2001; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
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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.
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