Session of 1999
HOUSE BILL No. 2493
By Committee on Business, Commerce and Labor
2-12
9 AN ACT concerning the workers compensation act, limiting the immu-
10 nity of employers and other employees for intentional injuries and
11 injuries caused by gross negligence or criminal conduct; amending
12 K.S.A. 1998 Supp. 44-501 and repealing the existing section.
13
14 Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Kansas:
15 Section 1. K.S.A. 1998 Supp. 44-501 is hereby amended to read as
16 follows: 44-501. (a) If in any employment to which the workers compen-
17 sation act applies, personal injury by accident arising out of and in the
18 course of employment is caused to an employee, the employer shall be
19 liable to pay compensation to the employee in accordance with the pro-
20 visions of the workers compensation act. In proceedings under the work-
21 ers compensation act, the burden of proof shall be on the claimant to
22 establish the claimant's right to an award of compensation and to prove
23 the various conditions on which the claimant's right depends. In deter-
24 mining whether the claimant has satisfied this burden of proof, the trier
25 of fact shall consider the whole record.
26 (b) Except as provided in the workers compensation act, no em-
27 ployer, or other employee of such employer, shall be liable for any injury
28 for which compensation is recoverable under the workers compensation
29 act nor shall an employer be liable to any third party for any injury or
30 death of an employee which was caused under circumstances creating a
31 legal liability against a third party and for which workers compensation is
32 payable by such employer, unless such injury or death is caused inten-
33 tionally or results from the gross negligence or criminal conduct.
34 (c) The employee shall not be entitled to recover for the aggravation
35 of a preexisting condition, except to the extent that the work-related injury
36 causes increased disability. Any award of compensation shall be reduced
37 by the amount of functional impairment determined to be preexisting.
38 (d) (1) If the injury to the employee results from the employee's
39 deliberate intention to cause such injury; or from the employee's willful
40 failure to use a guard or protection against accident required pursuant to
41 any statute and provided for the employee, or a reasonable and proper
42 guard and protection voluntarily furnished the employee by the employer,
43 any compensation in respect to that injury shall be disallowed.
44 (2) The employer shall not be liable under the workers compensation
45 act where the injury, disability or death was contributed to by the em-
46 ployee's use or consumption of alcohol or any drugs, chemicals or any
47 other compounds or substances, including but not limited to, any drugs
48 or medications which are available to the public without a prescription
49 from a health care provider, prescription drugs or medications, any form
50 or type of narcotic drugs, marijuana, stimulants, depressants or hallucin-
51 ogens. In the case of drugs or medications which are available to the
52 public without a prescription from a health care provider and prescription
53 drugs or medications, compensation shall not be denied if the employee
54 can show that such drugs or medications were being taken or used in
55 therapeutic doses and there have been no prior incidences of the em-
56 ployee's impairment on the job as the result of the use of such drugs or
57 medications within the previous 24 months. It shall be conclusively pre-
58 sumed that the employee was impaired due to alcohol if it is shown that
59 at the time of the injury that the employee had an alcohol concentration
60 of .04 or more. An employee's refusal to submit to a chemical test shall
61 not be admissible evidence to prove impairment unless there was prob-
62 able cause to believe that the employee used, possessed or was impaired
63 by a drug or alcohol while working. The results of a chemical test shall
64 not be admissible evidence to prove impairment unless the following con-
65 ditions were met:
66 (A) There was probable cause to believe that the employee used, had
67 possession of, or was impaired by the drug or alcohol while working;
68 (B) the test sample was collected at a time contemporaneous with
69 the events establishing probable cause;
70 (C) the collecting and labeling of the test sample was performed by
71 a licensed health care professional;
72 (D) the test was performed by a laboratory approved by the United
73 States department of health and human services or licensed by the de-
74 partment of health and environment, except that a blood sample may be
75 tested for alcohol content by a laboratory commonly used for that purpose
76 by state law enforcement agencies;
77 (E) the test was confirmed by gas chromatography, gas chromatog-
78 raphy-mass spectroscopy or other comparably reliable analytical method,
79 except that no such confirmation is required for a blood alcohol sample;
80 and
81 (F) the foundation evidence must establish, beyond a reasonable
82 doubt, that the test results were from the sample taken from the
83 employee.
84 (e) Compensation shall not be paid in case of coronary or coronary
85 artery disease or cerebrovascular injury unless it is shown that the exertion
86 of the work necessary to precipitate the disability was more than the
87 employee's usual work in the course of the employee's regular
88 employment.
89 (f) Except as provided in the workers compensation act, no construc-
90 tion design professional who is retained to perform professional services
91 on a construction project or any employee of a construction design pro-
92 fessional who is assisting or representing the construction design profes-
93 sional in the performance of professional services on the site of the con-
94 struction project, shall be liable for any injury resulting from the
95 employer's failure to comply with safety standards on the construction
96 project for which compensation is recoverable under the workers com-
97 pensation act, unless responsibility for safety practices is specifically as-
98 sumed by contract. The immunity provided by this subsection to any
99 construction design professional shall not apply to the negligent prepa-
100 ration of design plans or specifications.
101 (g) It is the intent of the legislature that the workers compensation
102 act shall be liberally construed for the purpose of bringing employers and
103 employees within the provisions of the act to provide the protections of
104 the workers compensation act to both. The provisions of the workers
105 compensation act shall be applied impartially to both employers and em-
106 ployees in cases arising thereunder.
107 (h) If the employee is receiving retirement benefits under the federal
108 social security act or retirement benefits from any other retirement sys-
109 tem, program or plan which is provided by the employer against which
110 the claim is being made, any compensation benefit payments which the
111 employee is eligible to receive under the workers compensation act for
112 such claim shall be reduced by the weekly equivalent amount of the total
113 amount of all such retirement benefits, less any portion of any such re-
114 tirement benefit, other than retirement benefits under the federal social
115 security act, that is attributable to payments or contributions made by the
116 employee, but in no event shall the workers compensation benefit be less
117 than the workers compensation benefit payable for the employee's per-
118 centage of functional impairment.
119 New Sec. 2. When the injury or death for which compensation is
120 payable under the workers compensation act was caused under circum-
121 stances creating a legal liability against the employer or any person in the
122 same employ to pay damages, and for which there is no immunity under
123 subsection (b) of K.S.A. 44-501, and amendments thereto, the injured
124 worker or the worker's dependents or personal representatives shall have
125 the right to take compensation under the workers compensation act and
126 pursue a remedy by proper action in a court of competent jurisdiction
127 against the employer or person in the same employ.
128 Sec. 3. K.S.A. 1998 Supp. 44-501 is hereby repealed.
129 Sec. 4. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its
130 publication in the statute book.