Preface

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1: The Nature of Workers' Compensation

1.1 Generally
1.2 The Compensation Bargain
1.3 Compensation Contrasted With Tort
1.4 The Strict Tort Liability Analogy
1.5 Fund Held in Trust
1.6 Judicial Construction of Compensation Statutes
1.7 Liberal Construction
1.8 Operation of Compensation Statutes

Chapter 2: The History of Workers' Compensation

2.1 Common Law
2.2 Employers' Obligations
2.3 Contributory Negligence
2.4 The Fellow Servant Rule
2.5 Doctrine of the Assumption of Risk
2.6 Legislation Antedating Workers' Compensation
2.7 Insurance Legislation in Germany
2.8 Origins of Workers' Compensation in the United States
2.9 Origins of Workers' Compensation Legislation in Ohio
2.10 The Voluntary Compensation Law
2.11 The 1913 Compulsory Compensation Law
2.12 National Commission on State Workmen's Compensation Law
2.13 Amended Substitute Senate Bill 545
2.14 Amended Substitute Senate Bill 307
2.15 Substitute House Bill 222
2.16 House Bill 7
2.17 Amended Substitute Senate Bill 45

Chapter 3: The Administrative Agencies

3.1 History of the Industrial Commission and Bureau of Workers' Compensation
3.2 Industrial Commission
3.3 Duties of the Industrial Commission
3.4 District and Staff Hearing Officers
3.5 Regional Boards of Review
3.6 Industrial Commission Medical Disability Evaluations
3.7 Regional Boards of Review
3.8 Organization and Functions of the Bureau
3.9 Workers' Compensation Board
3.10 Workers' Compensation Oversight Commission
3.11 Workers' Compensation Oversight Nominating Committee
3.12 The Administrator
3.13 Ombudsperson
3.14 Services Committee of the Workers' Compensation System
3.15 Internal Security
3.16 Rules of the Administrative Agencies

Chapter 4: Administrative Proceedings

4.1 Nature of Proceedings
4.2 Filing the Application
4.3 Processing of Claim
4.4 Processing Claim After Allowance
4.5 Hearings
4.6 Orders
4.7 Administrative Appeals
4.8 Evidence
4.9 Discovery

Chapter 5: Limitations, Jurisdiction, and Notices

5.1 Limitations
5.2 Claims for Injury or Death
5.3 Claims for Occupational Diseases
5.4 Tolling of the Statute
5.5 Continuing Jurisdiction
5.6 Invoking the Continuing Jurisdiction of the Commission
5.7 Modification of Orders
5.8 Residual Disabilities
5.9 Jurisdiction to Award Compensation
5.10 Recovery of Erroneous Payment
5.11 Notice
5.12 Procedural Due Process

Chapter 6: Employment Status

6.1 Employment Relationship
6.2 Employer
6.3 Employer Amenability
6.4 Casual Distinguished From Regular Employment
6.5 Contract of Hire and Independent Contractor
6.6 Employee
6.7 Aliens, Non-residents, and Minors
6.8 Municipal Policemen and Firemen
6.9 Volunteer Employees in Public Service
6.10 Persons Rendering Services in an Emergency
6.11 Emergency Management Workers
6.12 Ohio National Guard
6.13 Apprentices
6.14 Construction Contracts and the Contractor
6.15 Employer as Employee
6.16 Coverage of Elected Officials
6.17 Temporary Workers
6.18 Extraterritorial Coverage
6.19 Voluntary Participation
6.20 Waiver of Employees' Rights Prohibited
6.21 Complying Employer's Immunity From Suit
6.22 Waiver of Immunity
6.23 Dual Capacity Doctrine
6.24 Immunity of Fellow Employee
6.25 Liability of Third Party Tortfeasor to a Compensated Employee
6.26 Intentional Tort

Chapter 7: Injury

7.1 Compensable Injury
7.2 Accidental
7.3 Personal Injury
7.4 Aggravation of Pre-Existing Disability
7.5 Work Connection
7.6 Course of Employment
7.7 Going To and From Work
7.8 Zone of Employment and Special Hazards
7.9 Scope of Employment
7.10 Personal Comfort Doctrine
7.11 Recreational and Social Activities
7.12 Employee Deviations and Misconduct
7.13 Arising Out of the Employment
7.14 Neutral Risks
7.15 Personal Risks Concurring With Employment
7.16 The Self-Inflicted Injury Exception

Chapter 8: Occupational Disease

8.1 Background of the Occupational Disease Statute
8.2 Definition of Occupational Disease
8.3 Restrictive Statutes
8.4 Limitations of the Restrictive Statutes
8.5 Injurious Exposure
8.6 Erosion of the Restrictive Statutes
8.7 Change of Occupation Benefits
8.8 Occupational Disease Procedures
8.9 Pre-Existing Weakness, Multiple Causation, and Aggravation of Pre-existing Disease

Chapter 9: Disability Compensation

9.1 Compensation and Benefits; Disability and Impairment
9.2 Calculation of Compensation Payments
9.3 Statewide Average Weekly Wage
9.4 Temporary Total Disability
9.5 Definition of Temporary Total Disability
9.6 Abandonment of Former Position of Employment
9.7 Termination of Temporary Total Disability Benefits
9.8 Eaton Policy and the "Gap"
9.9 Wage Loss Compensation
9.10 Partial Disability Compensation
9.11 Permanent Partial Disability (R.C. ' 4123.57(A))
9.12 Scheduled Losses (R.C. ' 4123.57(B))
9.13 Temporary Partial Disability
9.14 Permanent Total Disability
9.15 Multiplicity of Compensation
9.16 Compensation Exempt From Attachment and Execution

Chapter 10: Benefits and Other Remedies,

10.1 Medical Benefits
10.2 Rehabilitation
10.3 Travel and Funeral Expenses
10.4 Settlements
10.5 Lump Sum Advancement
10.6 Disabled Workers' Relief Fund
10.7 Public Works Relief Compensation Program
10.8 Marine Insurance Fund
10.9 Coal-Workers' Pneumoconiosis Fund
10.10 Fraud

Chapter 11: Death Benefits

11.1 Death of the Claimant
11.2 Effect of the Claimant's Death Upon Awards
11.3 Death Benefits
11.4 Eligibility for Death Benefits
11.5 Dependency
11.6 Structure of the Benefits
11.7 Apportionment and Reapportionment of Death Benefits

Chapter 12: Judicial Remedies

12.1 Appeals to Courts of Common Pleas
12.2 History of the Judicial Appeal
12.3 Who May Appeal?
12.4 Venue of the Appeal
12.5 Notice of Appeal
12.6 Pleadings, Procedure, and Parties
12.7 Costs
12.8 Appealable Orders
12.9 Mandamus
12.10 Prohibition Against Employer Retaliation

Chapter 13: Safety and Additional Awards

13.1 The Lawful Requirement Exception
13.2 Division of Safety and Hygiene
13.3 Additional Awards
13.4 Elements of a VSSR Award
13.5 Procedure
13.6 Amount of Additional Award
13.7 Multiple Violations Within a Twenty-Four Month Period
13.8 Occupational Safety Loan Program
13.9 Occupational Safety and Health Act

Chapter 14: The State Insurance Fund, Self-insurance, and Risk Coverage

14.1 State Insurance Fund
14.2 Surplus Fund
14.3 Actuarial Audits, Investments and Administrative Costs
14.4 Rate-Making Process
14.5 Experience Period
14.6 Basic Premium Rate
14.7 Experience Rating
14.8 Retrospective Rating
14.9 Group Rating
14.10 Adjudicating Committee
14.11 Self-Insurance
14.12 Self-Insurer Eligibility
14.13 Standards for Self-Insuring Employers
14.14 Self-Insured Assessments
14.15 Self-Insured Review Panel
14.16 The Thousand-Dollar Medical-Only Program
14.17 Handicap Law
14.18 Risk Coverage
14.19 Payroll
14.20 Transfer of Risk Coverage and Experience
14.21 Actions Against Third Parties to Recover Increased Premium
14.22 Premium Payment Security Fund
14.23 Noncomplying Employer
14.24 Actions by the State of Ohio to Enforce Awards
14.25 Subrogation

Chapter 15: Representation

15.1 Representation and the Practice of Law
15.2 Right to Representation
15.3 Commission Standards For Representation
15.4 Commission Authority Relative to Representative's Fees
15.5 Authorization of Representative and Inspection of Claim Files

Index

Philip J. Fulton

Frequently asked to lecture to attorneys, legal groups, and doctors all over Ohio on issues dealing with workers¿ compensation, Philip Fulton has represented injured workers and victims of disability since 1980. A graduate of the Ohio State University and Capital University Law School, Order of the Curia, Mr. Fulton is listed in The Best Lawyers in America and Ohio Super Lawyers, 2004, "Law and Politics" magazine. For his commitment to injured workers, he was given the Distinguished Service Award in 1994 and 2002 by the Ohio Academy of Trial Lawyers (OATL) and was inducted into the OATL Workers' Compensation Hall of Fame in 1997. Mr. Fulton will serve as President Elect of the OATL in 2004-2005 and President in 2005-2006.