PART I. GENERAL PROVISIONS
§386-1 Definitions. In this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:
"Able to resume work" means an industrially injured worker's injury has stabilized after a period of recovery and the worker is capable of performing work in an occupation for which the worker has received previous training or for which the worker has demonstrated aptitude.
"Appellate board" means the labor and industrial relations appeals board.
"Attending physician" means a physician who is primarily responsible for the treatment of a work injury. There shall not be more than one attending physician. If an injured employee is treated by more than one physician, the employee shall designate a physician as the attending physician.
"Compensation" means all benefits accorded by this chapter to an employee or the employee's dependents on account of a work injury as defined in this section; it includes medical and rehabilitation benefits, income and indemnity benefits in cases of disability or death, and the allowance for funeral and burial expenses.
"Construction design professional" means any person who is a professional engineer, architect, or land surveyor who is registered under chapter 464 to practice that profession in the State.
"Covered employment" means employment of an employee as defined in this section or of a person for whom the employer has provided voluntary coverage pursuant to section 386-4.
"Department" means the department of labor and industrial relations.
"Director" means the director of labor and industrial relations.
"Disability" means loss or impairment of a physical or mental function.
"Disciplinary action" means personnel action by an employer in the form of punishment against an employee for infraction of employer or contract rules, in the form of a reprimand, suspension, or discharge.
"Emergency medical services" means the delivery of health care services under emergency conditions occurring as the result of a patient's condition due to a work injury that manifests itself by symptoms of sufficient severity, including severe pain, such that a prudent layperson, who possesses an average knowledge of health and medicine, could reasonably expect the absence of immediate medical attention to be life-threatening or cause serious harm or aggravation of physiological or psychological sickness, injury, or incapacitation.
"Employee" means any individual in the employment of another person.
Where an employee is loaned or hired out to another person for the purpose of furthering the other person's trade, business, occupation, or profession, the employee shall, beginning with the time when the control of the employee is transferred to the other person and continuing until the control is returned to the original employer, be deemed to be the employee of the other person regardless of whether the employee is paid directly by the other person or by the original employer. The employee shall be deemed to remain in the sole employment of the original employer if the other person fails to secure compensation to the employee as provided in section 386-121.
Whenever an independent contractor undertakes to perform work for another person pursuant to contract, express or implied, oral or written, the independent contractor shall be deemed the employer of all employees performing work in the execution of the contract, including employees of the independent contractor's subcontractors and their subcontractors. However, the liabilities of the direct employer of an employee who suffers a work injury shall be primary and that of the others secondary in their order. An employer secondarily liable who satisfies a liability under this chapter shall be entitled to indemnity against loss from the employer primarily liable.
"Employee in comparable employment" means a person, other than the injured employee, who is employed in the same grade in the same type of work by the same employer or, if there is no person so employed, a person, who is employed in the same grade in the same type of work by another employer in the same district.
"Employer" means any person having one or more persons in the person's employment. It includes the legal representative of a deceased employer and the State, any county or political subdivision of the State, and any other public entity within the State.
The insurer of an employer is subject to the employer's liabilities, shall pay the deductible as provided for under section 386-100, shall collect the amount of the deductible from the employer, and be entitled to rights and remedies under this chapter as far as applicable.
The workers' compensation self-insurance group of which an employer is a member is subject to that employer's liabilities and entitled to rights and remedies under this chapter as far as applicable.
"Employment" means any service performed by an individual for another person under any contract of hire or apprenticeship, express or implied, oral or written, whether lawfully or unlawfully entered into. It includes service of public officials, whether elected or under any appointment or contract of hire, express or implied.
"Employment" does not include:
As used in this definition, "religious, charitable, educational, or nonprofit organization" means a corporation, unincorporated association, community chest, fund, or foundation organized and operated exclusively for religious, charitable, or educational purposes, no part of the net earnings of which inure to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual.
"Good cause" means a substantial reason amounting in law to be a legal excuse for failing to perform an act required by law considered under the circumstances of the individual case.
"Guide" or "guidelines" means an indication of a suggested criteria, course, or means to a particular end, and not an authoritative or exclusive prescription which limits the exercise of independent judgment, expertise, or care.
"Health care provider" means a person qualified by the director to render health care and service and who has a license for the practice of:
(8) Advanced practice registered nurse under chapter 457.
"Medical care", "medical services", or "medical supplies" means every type of care, treatment, surgery, hospitalization, attendance, service, and supplies as the nature of the work injury requires, and includes such care, services, and supplies rendered or furnished by a licensed or certified physician, dispensing optician, physical therapist, physical therapist assistant as recognized pursuant to section 461J-3(e), nurse, advanced practice registered nurse as recognized pursuant to chapter 457, occupational therapist, certified occupational therapy assistant as recognized pursuant to chapter 457G, or licensed massage therapist as recognized pursuant to chapter 452.
"Personal injury" includes death resulting therefrom.
"Physician" includes a doctor of medicine, a dentist, a chiropractor, an osteopath, a naturopathic physician, a psychologist, an optometrist, an advanced practice registered nurse, and a podiatrist.
"Psychologist" means a licensed clinical psychologist with a doctorate degree in psychology and who either has at least two years clinical experience in a recognized health setting, or has met the standards of the National Register of the Health Service Providers in Psychology. When treatment or evaluation for an injury is provided by a psychologist, provision shall be made for appropriate medical collaboration when requested by the employer or the insurer, as provided by rules adopted in conformance with chapter 91.
"Recipient of social service payments" includes:
"State average weekly wage" means the amount determined by the director under section 383-22 as the average weekly wage.
"Suitable gainful employment" means employment or self-employment within the geographical area where the employee resides, which is reasonably attainable and which offers an opportunity to restore the employee's earnings capacity as nearly as possible to that level which the employee was earning at the time of injury and to return the employee to the active labor force as quickly as possible in a cost-effective manner, giving due consideration to the employee's qualifications, interests, incentives, future earnings capacity, and the present and future labor market.
"Total disability" means disability of such an extent that the disabled employee has no reasonable prospect of finding regular employment of any kind in the normal labor market.
"Trade, business, occupation, or profession" means all commercial, occupational, or professional activities, whether conducted for pecuniary gain or not. It includes all activities of nonprofit organizations conducted in pursuit of their purposes.
"Usual and customary employment" means the line or type of work in the gainful employment market consistent with a claimant's background, training, and experience.
"Vocational rehabilitation plan" means an approved plan prepared by a certified rehabilitation provider with an employee that is designed to assist the employee in obtaining and maintaining suitable gainful employment.
"Vocational rehabilitation services" means services provided in a rehabilitation program to assist an employee in obtaining and maintaining suitable gainful employment that may include but shall not be limited to on-the-job training, job modification, vocational evaluation, adjustment to disability, counseling, guidance, vocational and personal adjustment, referrals, transportation, training, supplies, equipment, appliances, aid, occupational licenses, and other goods and services needed to assist an employee in obtaining and maintaining suitable gainful employment.
"Wages" means all remuneration for services constituting employment. It includes the market value of board, lodging, fuel, and other advantages having a cash value which the employer has paid as a part of the employee's remuneration and gratuities received in the course of employment from others than the employer to the extent that they are customary and expected in that type of employment or accounted for by the employee to the employer.
"Work injury" means a personal injury suffered under the conditions specified in section 386-3. [L 1963, c 116, pt of §1; Supp, §97-1; HRS §386-1; am L 1969, c 244, §2a; am L 1970, c 200, §1; am L 1974, c 153, §1; am L 1975, c 68, §1; am L 1978, c 110, §4; am L 1979, c 40, §1; am L 1985, c 296, §§4, 14; gen ch 1985; am L 1986, c 304, §2; am L 1987, c 339, §4 and c 374, §1; am L 1989, c 56, §§1, 2 and c 300, §4; am L 1993, c 363, §2; am L 1996, c 94, §3; am L 1999, c 222, §2; am L 2000, c 69, §2; am L 2003, c 171, §1; am L Sp 2005, c 11, §1; am L 2006, c 176, §2; am L 2007, c 259, §§3, 7; am L 2009, c 11, §47; am L Sp 2009, c 22, §11(2); am L 2010, c 4, §6; am L 2011, c 196, §1 and c 220, §15; am L 2012, c 157, §1 and c 158, §2; am L 2016, c 183, §6; am L 2017, c 153, §1]