Title 25

In all cases, upon making the first payment of compensation and upon cessation or termination of payment of compensation, for any reason whatever, the employer shall make a supplementary report within 10 days to the Department of Labor on forms approved by said department. If the…

(a) Option to insure risks. An employer subject to this chapter may secure the payment of compensation under this chapter by insuring and keeping insured his or her liability in some insurance corporation, association, organization, insurance association, corporation, or associat…

(a) The Secretary of Labor may, under such rules and regulations as he may prescribe, permit two or more employers, as such term is defined in Section 25-5-1, to enter into agreements to pool their liabilities under this chapter for the purpose of qualifying as self-insurers unde…

This article shall not apply in cases where Article 3 of this chapter becomes operative in accordance with the provisions thereof, but shall apply in all other cases, and in such cases shall be an extension or modification of the common law. (Acts 1939, No. 661, p. 1036, §18; Cod…

When personal injury or death is caused to an employee by an accident arising out of and in the course of his employment, of which injury the actual or lawfully imputed negligence of the employer is the natural and proximate cause, he, or in case of death, his personal representa…

In all cases brought under this article, it shall not be a defense: (1) That the employee was negligent, unless and except it shall also appear that such negligence was wilful or that such employee was guilty of wilful misconduct as defined in Section 25-5-51. (2) That the injury…

The provisions of Sections 25-5-31 and 25-5-32 shall apply to any claims for death of an employee as covered by Sections 6-5-391, 6-5-410, and 25-6-3, and to personal injuries arising under Sections 6-5-390 and 25-6-1. (Acts 1919, No. 245, p. 206; Code 1940, T. 26, §257; Acts 197…

The provisions of this article and Article 3 of this chapter shall apply to employees who are minors and who have been employed in accordance with or contrary to laws regulating the employment of minors. If at the time of injury the minor was employed in violation of or contrary …

(a) As used in this section: (1) The term “United States” includes only the states of the United States and the District of Columbia; and (2) The term “state” includes any state of the United States or the District of Columbia. (b) For the purposes of this section, a person’s emp…

In all actions of law brought pursuant to this article, the burden of proof to establish the wilful misconduct or other misconduct as defined in Section 25-5-51, of the injured employee shall be upon the defendant. (Acts 1919, No. 245, p. 206; Code 1923, §7541; Code 1940, T. 26, …

(a) This article and Article 2 of this chapter shall not be construed or held to apply to an employer of a domestic employee; an employer of a farm laborer; an employer of a person whose employment at the time of the injury is casual and not in the usual course of the trade, busi…

If an employer is subject to this article, compensation, according to the schedules hereinafter contained, shall be paid by the employer, or those conducting the business during bankruptcy or insolvency, in every case of personal injury or death of his or her employee caused by a…

Except as provided in this chapter, no employee of any employer subject to this chapter, nor the personal representative, surviving spouse, or next of kin of the employee shall have a right to any other method, form, or amount of compensation or damages for an injury or death occ…

The rights and remedies granted in this chapter to an employee shall exclude all other rights and remedies of the employee, his or her personal representative, parent, dependent, or next of kin, at common law, by statute, or otherwise on account of injury, loss of services, or de…

Every employer and employee, except as otherwise specifically provided in this article, shall be presumed to have accepted and come under this article and Article 4 of this chapter and the provisions thereof relating to the payment and acceptance of compensation. (Acts 1919, No. …

For the purposes of this article and Article 4 of this chapter, minors shall have the same power to contract, make settlements and receive compensation as adult employees, subject to the power of the court, in its discretion, to require the appointment of a guardian to make the s…

The interested parties may settle all matters of benefits, whether involving compensation, medical payments, or rehabilitation, and all questions arising under this article and Article 4 of this chapter between themselves, and every settlement shall be in an amount the same as th…

(a) Compensation schedule. Following is the schedule of compensation: (1) TEMPORARY TOTAL DISABILITY. For injury producing temporary total disability, the compensation shall be 66 2/3 percent of the average weekly earnings received at the time of injury, subject to a maximum and …

If the degree or duration of disability resulting from an accident is increased or prolonged because of a preexisting injury or infirmity, the employer shall be liable only for the disability that would have resulted from the accident had the earlier injury or infirmity not exist…

(a) For purposes of this article, except for scheduled injuries as provided in Section 25-5-57(a)(3), compensation for the first three days of disability shall not be payable, nor shall compensation be paid in any case unless the employer has actual knowledge of the injury or is …

In death cases, where the death results proximately from the accident within three years, compensation payable to dependents shall be computed on the following basis and shall be paid to the persons entitled thereto without administration, or to a guardian or other person as the …

For the purposes of this article, the following described persons shall be conclusively presumed to be wholly dependent: (1) The wife, unless it is shown that she was voluntarily living apart from her husband at the time of his injury or death, or unless it is shown that the husb…

A wife, child, husband, mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, sister, brother, mother-in-law or father-in-law who was wholly supported by the deceased workman at the time of his death and for a reasonable period of time immediately prior thereto shall be considered his total …

Total dependents shall be entitled to take compensation in the order named in Section 25-5-62 until the percentage of the average weekly earnings of the deceased, during the time and as specified in Section 25-5-60, shall have been exhausted; but the total compensation to be paid…

Any member of a class named in Section 25-5-62 who regularly derived part of his support from the earnings of the deceased workman at the time of his death and for a reasonable period of time immediately prior thereto shall be considered his partial dependent, and payment of comp…

In computing and paying compensation to orphans or other children, in all cases, only those under 18 years of age or those over 18 years of age who are physically or mentally incapacitated from earning shall be included; the former to receive compensation only during the time the…

(a) In case of the remarriage of the surviving spouse of an employee who has another dependent, the unpaid balance of compensation, which would otherwise become due, shall be paid to the dependent or may, on approval by the court, be paid to some suitable person designated by the…

If death results to an employee as the result of an accident or an occupational disease arising out of and in the course of the employment, the employer shall pay, in addition to the medical and hospital expenses provided for in Section 25-5-77, the expenses of burial, not exceed…

(a) The compensation paid under this article shall be not less than, except as otherwise provided in this article, 27 1/2 percent of the average weekly wage of the state as determined by the secretary, rounded to the nearest dollar, pursuant to subsection (b) and, in any event, n…

(a) If compensation is being paid under this article to any dependent, the compensation shall cease upon the death or marriage of the dependent. Where compensation is being paid under this chapter to any dependent, in no event shall such dependent receive more than the proportion…

In case any employee for whose injury or death compensation is payable under this article shall, at the time of the injury, be employed and paid jointly by two or more employers subject to this chapter, such employers shall contribute the payment of such compensation in the propo…

(a) In addition to the compensation provided in this article and Article 4 of this chapter, the employer, where applicable, shall pay the actual cost of the repair, refitting, or replacement of artificial members damaged as the result of an accident arising out of and in the cour…

For purposes of this article only, an injured employee or the employee’s representative, within five days after the occurrence of an accident, shall give or cause to be given to the employer written notice of the accident. If the notice is not given, the employee or the employee’…

The notice referred to in Section 25-5-78 may be served personally upon the employer or upon any agent of the employer upon whom a summons may be served in civil actions or by sending it by registered or certified mail to the employer at his last known residence or business place…

In case of a personal injury not involving cumulative physical stress, all claims for compensation under this article shall be forever barred unless within two years after the accident the parties shall have agreed upon the compensation payable under this article or unless within…

(a) Commencement of action in circuit court. (1) PROCEDURE. In case of a dispute between employer and employee or between the dependents of a deceased employee and the employer with respect to the right to compensation under this article and Article 2 of this chapter, or the amou…

Compensation for the death of an employee shall be paid only to dependents who, at the time of the death of the injured employee, were actually residents of the United States. No right of action to recover damages for the death of an employee shall exist in favor or for the benef…

By agreement of the parties and with approval of the court, the amounts of compensation payable periodically, under this article and Article 4 of this chapter, may be commuted to one or more lump sum payments. No commutation shall be approved by the court unless the court is sati…

All amounts paid by the employer and received by the employee or his dependents under settlements made under Section 25-5-56 shall be final, but the amount of any award payable periodically for more than six months may be modified at any time by agreement of the parties and appro…

At any time after the amount of an award has been agreed upon by the parties or found and ordered by the court, a sum equal to the present value of all future installments of compensation calculated on a six percent basis may, where death or the nature of the injury renders the a…

For purposes of this article and Article 4 of this chapter: (1) If the award, order, or settlement agreement is payable in installments and default has been made in the payment of an installment, the owner or interested party may, upon the expiration of 30 days from the default a…

The right to compensation and of compensation awarded any injured employee or for death claims to his dependents shall have the same preference against the assets of the employer as other unpaid wages for labor; but such compensation shall not become a lien upon the property of t…

Either party to a controversy arising under this article and Article 2 of this chapter may file a verified complaint in the circuit court of the county which would have jurisdiction of an action between the same parties arising out of tort, which shall set forth the names and res…

Costs may be awarded by said court in its discretion, and, when so awarded, the same costs shall be allowed, taxed and collected as for like services and proceedings in civil cases, but if it shall appear that the employer, prior to the commencement of the action, made to the per…

(a) Unless otherwise provided in this chapter, no part of the compensation payable under this article and Article 4 of this chapter shall be paid to an attorney for the plaintiff for legal services, unless upon the application of the plaintiff, the judge shall order or approve of…

Whenever any decision or order is made and filed by the court upon any matter arising under this article, the clerk of the court shall forthwith make and forward to the judge of probate of the county in which the complaint was filed a certified copy of such decision or order with…