Title 11, Labor and Industrial Relations

(a) In order to promote safety in coal mines by eliminating the hazards of coal and rock dust in coal mines, it is made the duty of every person, partnership, association, corporation, owner, operator, or lessee of any coal mine in this state to employ and use water on the cutter…

(a) In all mines where a fire boss is employed, all working places and worked-out places adjacent to working places shall be examined, when it can be done, at least once a day by a competent fire boss. It shall be his or her duty to enter a report of existing conditions of the wo…

(a) Whenever and wherever a coal mine in this state becomes dangerous from high water or overflow of streams adjacent thereto, whereby the lives of miners employed therein are jeopardized by reason of the high water, it shall be the duty of the managers of the coal mine to call t…

(a) Whenever loss of life or serious personal injury shall occur by reason of any explosion or of any accident whatever in or about any mine, it shall be the duty of the person having charge of the mine to report the facts thereof without delay to the State Mine Inspector and, if…

No person under the age of eighteen (18) years shall be permitted to enter any mine to work therein.

(a) (1) Every person, firm, association, or corporation engaged in mining or producing coal or in the operation of a coal mine or coal mining business and employing more than three (3) persons in connection therewith shall give a qualified bond with good and sufficient surety to …

(a) To more effectively carry out the intentions and purposes of this section and §§ 11-7-409 — 11-7-414, the Secretary of the Department of Labor and Licensing or his or her designee may administer oaths to all persons who are applicants, or who may vouch, in any manner, for the…

(a) No fire bosses, hoisting engineers, or mine foremen shall be employed in any mine in the State of Arkansas unless they have been examined by the Division of Labor or the division determines that comparable testing criteria have been met in another jurisdiction. (b) No one sha…

(a) (1) The Secretary of the Department of Labor and Licensing or his or her designee shall grant certificates after examination by the Division of Labor or a determination by the division that the testing requirements have been satisfied in another jurisdiction.(2) The certifica…

In case of loss or destruction of a certificate, the Secretary of the Department of Labor and Licensing or his or her designee, upon satisfactory proof of the loss or destruction, may issue a duplicate on the payment of the sum of one dollar ($1.00).

(a) All certificates issued pursuant to this subchapter may be revoked by the Secretary of the Department of Labor and Licensing or his or her designee after a hearing upon due notice to the holder of the certificate and upon written charges preferred by the secretary or by some …

Any person who shall forge, alter, or counterfeit a certificate, shall secure or attempt to secure employment by use of the forged, altered, or counterfeited certificate, or shall falsely represent that he is a holder of a certificate regularly issued him shall be guilty of a mis…

(a) Any owner, operator, lessee, or agent of any coal mine in the State of Arkansas violating any of the provisions of § 11-7-401 and §§ 11-7-403 — 11-7-407 shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor. (b) Upon conviction, he or she shall be fined not less than ten dollars ($10.00) n…

(a) The term “coal miner” as used in §§ 11-7-402 and 11-7-410 — 11-7-414, unless the context otherwise requires, shall be construed to mean any person working underground or in development in shafts, slopes, drifts, or tunnels for the extraction or production of coal or rock. (b)…

(a) It shall be unlawful for any person to work as a coal miner in any coal mine in this state without first having a certificate of qualification and competency to do so from the Secretary of the Department of Labor and Licensing or his or her designee, nor shall any person, fir…

(a) The Secretary of the Department of Labor and Licensing or his or her designee shall hold sufficient examinations each year in places to be determined by the secretary or his or her designee, which, in his or her opinion, will be most convenient to applicants desiring to engag…

(a) A person making application for a coal miner's certificate of competency and qualification shall be granted a temporary permit to work until such time as an examination is held by the Secretary of the Department of Labor and Licensing or his or her designee and if, in the jud…

(a) Any certified miner may have one (1) person working with him or her and under his or her direction, in addition to any member of his or her immediate family, as an apprentice for the purpose of learning the business of coal mining and becoming qualified to obtain a certificat…

The Secretary of the Department of Labor and Licensing or his or her designee shall possess powers to issue duplicate certificates and revoke certificates in all cases as provided in §§ 11-7-405 and 11-7-406.

The word “corporation”, as used in §§ 11-8-102 — 11-8-108, unless the context otherwise requires, shall include the receiver or other persons charged with the duty of the management and operation of the business of the corporation.

Sections 11-8-101 — 11-8-108 shall not apply to railroad corporations and shall not amend nor repeal any part of §§ 23-12-501 — 23-12-507.

(a) Every corporation, except while engaged in interstate commerce, shall be liable in damages to any person suffering injury while he or she is employed by the corporation. (b) In case of death of the employee, the corporation shall be liable to his or her personal representativ…

(a) In all actions brought against any corporation under or by virtue of any of the provisions of §§ 11-8-101 — 11-8-108 to recover damages for personal injuries to an employee, or where the injuries have resulted in his or her death, the fact that the employee may have been guil…

In any action brought against any corporation under or by virtue of any of the provisions of §§ 11-8-101 — 11-8-108 to recover damages for injuries to, or the death of, any of its employees, the employee shall not be held to have assumed the risks of his or her employment in any …

(a) Any contract, rule, or device whatsoever, the purpose or intent of which shall be to enable any corporation to exempt itself from any liability created by §§ 11-8-101 — 11-8-108, shall to that extent be void. (b) However, in any action brought against any corporation under or…

No action shall be maintained under §§ 11-8-101 — 11-8-108 unless commenced within three (3) years from the date the cause of action accrued.

Any right of action given by §§ 11-8-101 — 11-8-108 to a person suffering injury shall survive to his or her personal representative for the benefit of the surviving spouse and children of the employee and, if none, then of the employee's parents and, if none, then of the next of…

Every company, whether incorporated or not, engaged in the mining of coal who may employ agents, servants, or employees, those agents, servants, or employees being in the exercise of due care, shall be liable to respond in damages for injuries or death sustained by an agent, empl…

The Seventy-Ninth General Assembly realizes that the Arkansas workers' compensation statutes must be revised and amended from time to time. Unfortunately, many of the changes made by this act were necessary because administrative law judges, the Workers' Compensation Commission, …

(a) This chapter shall be cited as the “Workers' Compensation Law”. (b) The primary purposes of the workers' compensation laws are to pay timely temporary and permanent disability benefits to all legitimately injured workers who suffer an injury or disease arising out of and in t…

(1) As used in this chapter:(1) “Carrier” means any stock company, mutual company, or reciprocal or interinsurance exchange authorized to write or carry on the business of workers' compensation insurance in this state. Whenever required by the context, the term “carrier” shall be…

(a) Every employer and every employee, unless otherwise specifically provided in this chapter, shall be subject to the provisions of this chapter and shall be bound thereby. However, nothing in this chapter shall be construed to conflict with any valid act of the United States Co…

If any part of this chapter is adjudged unconstitutional by the courts and the adjudication has the effect of invalidating any payment of compensation under this chapter, the period intervening between the time the injury was sustained and the time of the adjudication shall not b…

(a) The rights and remedies granted to an employee subject to the provisions of this chapter, on account of injury or death, shall be exclusive of all other rights and remedies of the employee, his legal representative, dependents, next of kin, or anyone otherwise entitled to rec…

(a) (1) (A) Any person or entity who willfully and knowingly makes any material false statement or representation, who willfully and knowingly omits or conceals any material information, or who willfully and knowingly employs any device, scheme, or artifice for the purpose of obt…

(a) (1) Any employer who willfully discriminates in regard to the hiring or tenure of work or any term or condition of work of any individual on account of the individual's claim for benefits under this chapter, or who in any manner obstructs or impedes the filing of claims for b…

(a) No agreement by an employee to waive his or her right to compensation shall be valid, and no contract, regulation, or device whatsoever shall operate to relieve the employer or carrier, in whole or in part, from any liability created by this chapter, except as specifically pr…

(a) No agreement by an employee to pay any portion of the premium paid by his or her employer to a carrier or to contribute to a safety program as provided under § 11-9-409 or a benefit fund or department maintained by the employer for the purpose of providing compensation or med…

(a) The right to compensation shall not be assignable and shall not be subject to garnishment, attachment, levy, execution, or any other legal process, except for child support obligations and moneys retained by the Division of Correction under § 12-30-406(a)(1). (b) Money compen…

(a) Compensation to alien nonresidents of the United States or Canada shall be the same in amount as provided for residents, except that alien nonresident dependents in any foreign country shall be limited to the surviving wife or children or, if there is no surviving wife or chi…

Compensation due an injured employee or his or her dependents shall have the same preference as is allowed by law to an employee for unpaid wages.

(a) (1) A mental injury or illness is not a compensable injury unless it is caused by physical injury to the employee's body, and shall not be considered an injury arising out of and in the course of employment or compensable unless it is demonstrated by a preponderance of the ev…

(a) A cardiovascular, coronary, pulmonary, respiratory, or cerebrovascular accident or myocardial infarction causing injury, illness, or death is a compensable injury only if, in relation to other factors contributing to the physical harm, an accident is the major cause of the ph…

(a) (1) At any time an application is made for workers' compensation, an employer shall require the applicant for compensation to state whether or not the applicant has child support obligations, if the obligations are current or past due, and to whom the obligations are payable.…

(a) (1) One (1) month before the beginning of any fiscal quarter, the Insurance Commissioner shall provide to the Workers' Compensation Commission the estimated funding need of the Workers' Compensation Fraud Investigation Unit of the State Insurance Department for the ensuing qu…

Pursuant to its rulemaking authority, the Workers' Compensation Commission shall be empowered to enact medical diagnostic and treatment guidelines regarding occupational carpal tunnel syndrome upon the joint recommendation of the Arkansas chapter of the American Federation of Lab…