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Public Act 095-0316
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| HB0928 Enrolled |
LRB095 07182 WGH 27314 b |
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AN ACT concerning employment.
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Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, |
represented in the General Assembly:
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Section 5. The Workers' Compensation Act is amended by |
changing
Section 6 as follows:
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(820 ILCS 305/6) (from Ch. 48, par. 138.6)
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Sec. 6. (a) Every employer within the provisions of this |
Act, shall,
under the rules and regulations prescribed by the |
Commission, post
printed notices in their respective places of |
employment in such number
and at such places as may be |
determined by the Commission, containing
such information |
relative to this Act as in the judgment of the
Commission may |
be necessary to aid employees to safeguard their rights
under |
this Act in event of injury.
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In addition thereto, the employer shall post in a |
conspicuous place
on the place of the employment a printed or |
typewritten notice stating
whether he is insured or whether he |
has qualified and is operating as a
self-insured employer. In |
the event the employer is insured, the notice
shall state the |
name and address of his insurance carrier, the number of
the |
insurance policy, its effective date and the date of |
termination. In
the event of the termination of the policy for |
any reason prior to the
termination date stated, the posted |
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notice shall promptly be corrected
accordingly. In the event |
the employer is operating as a self-insured
employer the notice |
shall state the name and address of the company, if
any, |
servicing the compensation payments of the employer, and the |
name
and address of the person in charge of making compensation |
payments.
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(b) Every employer subject to this Act shall maintain |
accurate
records of work-related deaths, injuries and illness |
other than minor
injuries requiring only first aid treatment |
and which do not involve
medical treatment, loss of |
consciousness, restriction of work or motion,
or transfer to |
another job and file with the Commission, in writing, a
report |
of all accidental deaths, injuries and illnesses arising out of
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and in the course of the employment resulting in the loss of |
more than
3 scheduled work days. In the case of death such |
report shall be
made no later than 2 working days following the |
accidental death. In
all other cases such report shall be made |
between the 15th and 25th of
each month unless required to be |
made sooner by rule of the Commission.
In case the injury |
results in permanent disability, a further report
shall be made |
as soon as it is determined that such permanent disability
has |
resulted or will result from the injury. All reports shall |
state
the date of the injury, including the time of day or |
night, the nature
of the employer's business, the name, |
address, age, sex, conjugal
condition of the injured person, |
the specific occupation of the injured
person, the direct cause |
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of the injury and the nature of the accident,
the character of |
the injury, the length of disability, and in case of
death the |
length of disability before death, the wages of the injured
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person, whether compensation has been paid to the injured |
person, or to
his or her legal representative or his heirs or |
next of kin, the amount of
compensation paid, the amount paid |
for physicians', surgeons' and
hospital bills, and by whom |
paid, and the amount paid for funeral or
burial expenses if |
known. The reports shall be made on forms and in the
manner as |
prescribed by the Commission and shall contain such further
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information as the Commission shall deem necessary and require. |
The
making of these reports releases the employer from making |
such reports
to any other officer of the State and shall |
satisfy the reporting
provisions as contained in the "Health |
and Safety Act" and "An Act in
relation to safety inspections |
and education in industrial and
commercial establishments and |
to repeal an Act therein named", approved
July 18, 1955, as now |
or hereafter amended. The reports filed with the
Commission |
pursuant to this Section shall be made available by the
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Commission to the Director of Labor or his representatives and |
to all
other departments of the State of Illinois which shall |
require such
information for the proper discharge of their |
official duties. Failure
to file with the Commission any of the |
reports required in this Section
is a petty offense.
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Except as provided in this paragraph, all reports filed |
hereunder shall
be confidential and any person
having access to |
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such records filed with the Illinois Workers' Compensation |
Commission as
herein required, who shall release any |
information therein contained
including the names or otherwise |
identify any persons sustaining
injuries or disabilities, or |
give access to such information to any
unauthorized person, |
shall be subject to discipline or discharge, and in
addition |
shall be guilty of a Class B misdemeanor. The Commission shall
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compile and distribute to interested persons aggregate |
statistics, taken
from the reports filed hereunder. The |
aggregate statistics shall not give
the names or otherwise |
identify persons sustaining injuries or disabilities
or the |
employer of any injured or disabled person.
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(c) Notice of the accident shall be given to the employer |
as soon as
practicable, but not later than 45 days after the |
accident. Provided:
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(1) In case of the legal disability of the employee
or any |
dependent of a
deceased employee who may be entitled to |
compensation under the
provisions of this Act, the limitations |
of time by this Act provided do
not begin to run against such |
person under legal disability
until a
guardian has been |
appointed.
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(2) In cases of injuries sustained by exposure to |
radiological
materials or equipment, notice shall be given to |
the employer within 90
days subsequent to the time that the |
employee knows or suspects that he
has received an excessive |
dose of radiation.
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No defect or inaccuracy of such notice shall be a bar to |
the
maintenance of proceedings on arbitration or otherwise by |
the employee
unless the employer proves that he is unduly |
prejudiced in such
proceedings by such defect or inaccuracy.
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Notice of the accident shall give the approximate date and |
place of
the accident, if known, and may be given orally or in |
writing.
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(d) Every employer shall notify each injured employee who |
has been
granted compensation under the provisions of Section 8 |
of this Act
of his rights to rehabilitation services and advise |
him of the locations
of available public rehabilitation centers |
and any other such services
of which the employer has |
knowledge.
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In any case, other than one where the injury was caused by |
exposure
to radiological materials or equipment or asbestos |
unless the application for
compensation is filed with the |
Commission within 3 years after the date
of the accident, where |
no compensation has been paid, or within 2 years
after the date |
of the last payment of compensation, where any has been
paid, |
whichever shall be later, the right to file such application |
shall
be barred.
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In any case of injury caused by exposure to radiological |
materials or
equipment or asbestos, unless application for |
compensation is filed with the
Commission within 25 years after |
the last day that the employee was
employed in an environment |
of hazardous radiological activity or asbestos,
the right to |
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file such application shall be barred.
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If in any case except one where the injury was caused by |
exposure to
radiological materials or equipment or asbestos, |
the accidental injury
results in death application for |
compensation for death may be filed with the
Commission within |
3 years after the date of death where no compensation
has been |
paid or within 2 years after the date of the last payment of
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compensation where any has been paid, whichever shall be later, |
but not
thereafter.
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If an accidental injury caused by exposure to radiological |
material
or equipment or asbestos results in death within 25 |
years after the last
day that the employee was so exposed |
application for compensation for death may
be filed with the |
Commission within 3 years after the date of death,
where no |
compensation has been paid, or within 2 years after the date of
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the last payment of compensation where any has been paid, |
whichever
shall be later, but not thereafter.
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(e) Any contract or agreement made by any employer or his |
agent or
attorney with any employee or any other beneficiary of |
any claim under
the provisions of this Act within 7 days after |
the injury shall be
presumed to be fraudulent.
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(f) Any condition or impairment of health of an employee |
employed as a
firefighter, emergency medical technician (EMT), |
or paramedic which results
directly or indirectly from any |
bloodborne pathogen, lung or respiratory
disease
or condition, |
heart
or vascular disease or condition, hypertension, |
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tuberculosis, or cancer
resulting in any disability |
(temporary, permanent, total, or partial) to the
employee shall |
be rebuttably presumed to arise out of and in the course of
the |
employee's firefighting, EMT, or paramedic employment and, |
further, shall
be
rebuttably presumed to be causally connected |
to the hazards or exposures of
the employment. This presumption |
shall also apply to any hernia or hearing
loss suffered by an |
employee employed as a firefighter, EMT, or paramedic.
However, |
this presumption shall not apply to any employee who has been |
employed
as a firefighter, EMT, or paramedic for less than 5 |
years at the time he or she files an Application for Adjustment |
of Claim concerning this condition or impairment with the |
Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission. The Finding and |
Decision of the Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission |
under only the rebuttable presumption provision of this |
subsection shall not be admissible or be deemed res judicata in |
any disability claim under the Illinois Pension Code arising |
out of the same medical condition; however, this sentence makes |
no change to the law set forth in Krohe v. City of Bloomington, |
204 Ill.2d 392.
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(Source: P.A. 93-721, eff. 1-1-05.)
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Section 10. The Workers' Occupational Diseases Act is |
amended by changing
Section 1 as follows:
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(820 ILCS 310/1) (from Ch. 48, par. 172.36)
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Sec. 1. This Act shall be known and may be cited as the |
"Workers'
Occupational Diseases Act".
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(a) The term "employer" as used in this Act shall be |
construed to
be:
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1. The State and each county, city, town, township, |
incorporated
village, school district, body politic, or |
municipal corporation
therein.
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2. Every person, firm, public or private corporation, |
including
hospitals, public service, eleemosynary, |
religious or charitable
corporations or associations, who |
has any person in service or under any
contract for hire, |
express or implied, oral or written.
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3. Where an employer operating under and subject to the |
provisions
of this Act loans an employee to another such |
employer and such loaned
employee sustains a compensable |
occupational disease in the employment
of such borrowing |
employer and where such borrowing employer does not
provide |
or pay the benefits or payments due such employee, such |
loaning
employer shall be liable to provide or pay all |
benefits or payments due
such employee under this Act and |
as to such employee the liability of
such loaning and |
borrowing employers shall be joint and several,
provided |
that such loaning employer shall in the absence of |
agreement to
the contrary be entitled to receive from such |
borrowing employer full
reimbursement for all sums paid or |
incurred pursuant to this paragraph
together with |
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reasonable attorneys' fees and expenses in any hearings
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before the Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission or in |
any action to secure such
reimbursement. Where any benefit |
is provided or paid by such loaning
employer, the employee |
shall have the duty of rendering reasonable
co-operation in |
any hearings, trials or proceedings in the case,
including |
such proceedings for reimbursement.
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Where an employee files an Application for Adjustment |
of Claim with
the Illinois Workers' Compensation |
Commission alleging that his or her claim is covered by
the |
provisions of the preceding paragraph, and joining both the |
alleged
loaning and borrowing employers, they and each of |
them, upon written
demand by the employee and within 7 days |
after receipt of such demand,
shall have the duty of filing |
with the Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission a |
written
admission or denial of the allegation that the |
claim is covered by the
provisions of the preceding |
paragraph and in default of such filing or
if any such |
denial be ultimately determined not to have been bona fide
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then the provisions of Paragraph K of Section 19 of this |
Act shall
apply.
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An employer whose business or enterprise or a |
substantial part
thereof consists of hiring, procuring or |
furnishing employees to or for
other employers operating |
under and subject to the provisions of this
Act for the |
performance of the work of such other employers and who |
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pays
such employees their salary or wage notwithstanding |
that they are doing
the work of such other employers shall |
be deemed a loaning employer
within the meaning and |
provisions of this Section.
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(b) The term "employee" as used in this Act, shall be |
construed to
mean:
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1. Every person in the service of the State, county, |
city, town,
township, incorporated village or school |
district, body politic or
municipal corporation therein, |
whether by election, appointment or
contract of hire, |
express or implied, oral or written, including any
official |
of the State, or of any county, city, town, township,
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incorporated village, school district, body politic or |
municipal
corporation therein and except any duly |
appointed member of the fire
department in any city whose |
population exceeds 500,000 according to the
last Federal or |
State census, and except any member of a fire insurance
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patrol maintained by a board of underwriters in this State. |
One employed
by a contractor who has contracted with the |
State, or a county, city,
town, township, incorporated |
village, school district, body politic or
municipal |
corporation therein, through its representatives, shall |
not be
considered as an employee of the State, county, |
city, town, township,
incorporated village, school |
district, body politic or municipal
corporation which made |
the contract.
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2. Every person in the service of another under any |
contract of
hire, express or implied, oral or written, who |
contracts an occupational
disease while working in the |
State of Illinois, or who contracts an
occupational disease |
while working outside of the State of Illinois but
where |
the contract of hire is made within the State of Illinois, |
and any
person whose employment is principally localized |
within the State of
Illinois, regardless of the place where |
the disease was contracted or
place where the contract of |
hire was made, including aliens, and minors
who, for the |
purpose of this Act, except Section 3 hereof, shall be
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considered the same and have the same power to contract, |
receive
payments and give quittances therefor, as adult |
employees. An employee
or his or her dependents under this |
Act who shall have a cause of action
by reason of an |
occupational disease, disablement or death arising out
of |
and in the course of his or her employment may elect or |
pursue
his or her remedy in the State where the disease was |
contracted, or in the
State where the contract of hire is |
made, or in the State where the
employment is principally |
localized.
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(c) "Commission" means the Illinois Workers' Compensation |
Commission created by the
Workers' Compensation Act, approved |
July 9, 1951, as amended.
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(d) In this Act the term "Occupational Disease" means a |
disease
arising out of and in the course of the employment or |
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which has become
aggravated and rendered disabling as a result |
of the exposure of the
employment. Such aggravation shall arise |
out of a risk peculiar to or
increased by the employment and |
not common to the general public.
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A disease shall be deemed to arise out of the employment if |
there is
apparent to the rational mind, upon consideration of |
all the
circumstances, a causal connection between the |
conditions under which
the work is performed and the |
occupational disease. The disease need not
to have been |
foreseen or expected but after its contraction it must
appear |
to have had its origin or aggravation in a risk connected with
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the employment and to have flowed from that source as a |
rational
consequence.
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An employee shall be conclusively deemed to have been |
exposed to the
hazards of an occupational disease when, for any |
length of time however
short, he or she is employed in an |
occupation or process in which the
hazard of the disease |
exists; provided however, that in a claim of
exposure to atomic |
radiation, the fact of such exposure must be verified
by the |
records of the central registry of radiation exposure |
maintained
by the Department of Public Health or by some other |
recognized
governmental agency maintaining records of such |
exposures whenever and
to the extent that the records are on |
file with the Department of Public
Health or the agency. |
Any injury to or disease or death of an employee arising |
from the administration of a vaccine, including without |
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limitation smallpox vaccine, to prepare for, or as a response |
to, a threatened or potential bioterrorist incident to the |
employee as part of a voluntary inoculation program in |
connection with the person's employment or in connection with |
any governmental program or recommendation for the inoculation |
of workers in the employee's occupation, geographical area, or |
other category that includes the employee is deemed to arise |
out of and in the course of the employment for all purposes |
under this Act. This paragraph added by Public Act 93-829
this |
amendatory Act of the 93rd General Assembly is declarative of |
existing law and is not a new enactment.
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The employer liable for the compensation in this Act |
provided shall
be the employer in whose employment the employee |
was last exposed to the
hazard of the occupational disease |
claimed upon regardless of the length
of time of such last |
exposure, except, in cases of silicosis or
asbestosis, the only |
employer liable shall be the last employer in whose
employment |
the employee was last exposed during a period of 60 days or
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more after the effective date of this Act, to the hazard of |
such
occupational disease, and, in such cases, an exposure |
during a period of
less than 60 days, after the effective date |
of this Act, shall not be
deemed a last exposure. If a miner |
who is suffering or suffered from
pneumoconiosis was employed |
for 10 years or more in one or more coal
mines there shall, |
effective July 1, 1973 be a rebuttable presumption
that his or |
her pneumoconiosis arose out of such employment.
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If a deceased miner was employed for 10 years or more in |
one or more
coal mines and died from a respirable disease there |
shall, effective
July 1, 1973, be a rebuttable presumption that |
his or her death was due
to pneumoconiosis.
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Any condition or impairment of health of an employee |
employed as a
firefighter, emergency medical technician (EMT), |
or paramedic which results
directly or indirectly from any |
bloodborne pathogen, lung or respiratory
disease
or
condition, |
heart
or vascular disease or condition, hypertension, |
tuberculosis, or cancer
resulting
in any disability |
(temporary, permanent, total, or partial) to the employee
shall |
be rebuttably presumed to arise out of and in the course of the
|
employee's firefighting, EMT, or paramedic employment and, |
further, shall be
rebuttably presumed to be causally connected |
to the hazards or exposures of
the employment. This presumption |
shall also apply to any hernia or hearing
loss suffered by an |
employee employed as a firefighter, EMT, or paramedic.
However, |
this presumption shall not apply to any employee who has been |
employed
as a firefighter, EMT, or paramedic for less than 5 |
years at the time he or she files an Application for Adjustment |
of Claim concerning this condition or impairment with the |
Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission. The Finding and |
Decision of the Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission |
under only the rebuttable presumption provision of this |
paragraph shall not be admissible or be deemed res judicata in |
any disability claim under the Illinois Pension Code arising |
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out of the same medical condition; however, this sentence makes |
no change to the law set forth in Krohe v. City of Bloomington, |
204 Ill.2d 392.
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The insurance carrier liable shall be the carrier whose |
policy was in
effect covering the employer liable on the last |
day of the exposure
rendering such employer liable in |
accordance with the provisions of this
Act.
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(e) "Disablement" means an impairment or partial |
impairment,
temporary or permanent, in the function of the body |
or any of the
members of the body, or the event of becoming |
disabled from earning full
wages at the work in which the |
employee was engaged when last exposed to
the hazards of the |
occupational disease by the employer from whom he or
she claims |
compensation, or equal wages in other suitable employment;
and |
"disability" means the state of being so incapacitated.
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(f) No compensation shall be payable for or on account of |
any
occupational disease unless disablement, as herein |
defined, occurs
within two years after the last day of the last |
exposure to the hazards
of the disease, except in cases of |
occupational disease caused by
berylliosis or by the inhalation |
of silica dust or asbestos dust and, in
such cases, within 3 |
years after the last day of the last exposure to
the hazards of |
such disease and except in the case of occupational
disease |
caused by exposure to radiological materials or equipment, and
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in such case, within 25 years after the last day of last |
exposure to the
hazards of such disease.
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