Title XXVII, Labor and Human Rights

The board of directors shall require the commission to engage a certified public accountant or a firm of certified public accountants to conduct an annual examination of the commission's financial statements, conditions, transactions, and affairs in accordance with generally acce…

and information. The special fund and the funding commission shall at all times furnish each other access to any and all books, records, documents, and information necessary or desirable in order to allow the other to perform its duties under this chapter.

Except as provided in KRS 342.829, funds which are under the jurisdiction of the commission shall not: (1) Be loaned to the Commonwealth or any instrumentality or agency thereof; (2) Be subject to transfer to the Commonwealth or any agency or instrumentality thereof, except for p…

Governor. The Kentucky Workers' Compensation Funding Commission shall not be subject to the Governor's power of reorganization under KRS Chapter 12, including attachment or transfer to another organizational unit or administrative body other than the Education and Labor Cabinet. …

The benefit reserve fund is hereby established within the funding commission, and shall be administered by the funding commission. All funds in excess of current liabilities of the special fund and budgeted expenditures shall be deposited in the benefit reserve fund and invested …

for protesting special fund assessments -- Expenses of audits, how paid -- Mailing of assessment notice -- Documents relevant to reports and audits -- Notice and payment of refund -- Penalty for late payment. (1) The funding commission may mail to the assessment payer a notice of…

Subsequent administrative savings as a result of the implementation of 1996 (1st Extra. Sess.) Ky. Acts ch. 1 shall be used to defray the special fund assessment on all employers in the Commonwealth.

Kentucky coal workers' pneumoconiosis fund. (1) The General Assembly declares: (a) The Kentucky coal workers' pneumoconiosis fund was created in 1996 for the purpose of placing the financial responsibility for liabilities incurred as a result of workers' compensation awards for c…

of making payments for awards for coal workers' pneumoconiosis -- Assessments to finance fund -- When assessments cease -- Distribution of excess assessments to employers -- Reimbursement of funding commission by Kentucky Employers' Mutual Insurance Authority. (1) There is create…

workers' pneumoconiosis fund -- Assessments on employers -- Abolition of fund. (1) Notwithstanding any provisions of this chapter or any other provisions to the contrary, the Kentucky coal workers' pneumoconiosis fund shall have no liability for income benefits for coal workers' …

limitations -- Credit for previously-awarded retraining incentive benefits or income benefits awarded for coal-related pneumoconiosis. (1) Upon motion by any party or upon an administrative law judge's own motion, an administrative law judge may reopen and review any award or ord…

Compensation under this chapter to alien dependent widows, widowers and children, not residents of the United States, shall be one-half (1/2) of the amount provided in each case for residents. The employer may at any time commute all future installments of compensation to alien d…

Any notice required to be given under this chapter shall be considered properly given and served when deposited in the mail in a registered letter or package properly stamped and addressed to the person to whom notice is to be given at his last known address and in time to reach …

The average weekly wage of the injured employee at the time of the injury or last injurious exposure shall be determined as follows: (1) If at the time of the injury which resulted in death or disability or the last date of injurious exposure preceding death or disability from an…

For the purposes of this chapter, the average weekly wage of the state shall be determined by the commissioner as follows: On or before September 1 of each year, the total wages reported by subject employers under the Kentucky Unemployment Insurance Law for the preceding calendar…

Whenever the administrative law judge considers it expedient, any lump sum which is paid as provided in this chapter shall be paid to any suitable person appointed by the District Court of the county of the residence of the injured employee or of his dependents as trustee to admi…

dependent. (1) The benefits in case of death shall be paid to one (1) or more dependents of the deceased employee for the benefit of all the dependents entitled thereto, as determined by the administrative law judge. The dependents to whom payments are made shall apply the same t…

-- Compensation not payable if employee falsely represents physical condition or medical history at time of employment. (1) If an accident is caused in any degree by the intentional failure of the employer to comply with any specific statute or lawful administrative regulation ma…

All rights of compensation granted by this chapter shall have the same preference or priority for the whole thereof against the assets of the employer as is allowed by law for any unpaid wages for labor.

No claim for compensation under this chapter shall be assignable, except court or administratively-ordered child support pursuant to KRS 403.212. All compensation and claims therefor, except child support obligations, shall be exempt from all claims of creditors.

trauma injury. (1) Except as provided in subsections (2) and (3) of this section, no proceeding under this chapter for compensation for an injury or death shall be maintained unless a notice of the accident shall have been given to the employer as soon as practicable after the ha…

The notice and claim shall be in writing. The notice shall contain the name and address of the employee, and shall state in ordinary language the time, place of occurrence, nature and cause of the accident, with names of witnesses, the nature and extent of the injury sustained, a…

The notice and claim shall be given to the employer, or if the employer is a partnership, then to any one (1) of the general partners. If the employer is a corporation or a limited liability company, the notice or claim may be given to any agent of the corporation or limited liab…

diagnosis of coal-related pneumoconiosis -- Civil remedies. (1) No employee shall be harassed, coerced, discharged, or discriminated against in any manner whatsoever for filing and pursuing a lawful claim under this chapter. (2) It is unlawful practice for an employer: (a) To fai…

The notice shall not be invalid or insufficient because of any inaccuracy in complying with KRS 342.190 unless it is shown that the employer was in fact misled to his injury thereby. Want of notice or delay in giving notice shall not be a bar to proceedings under this chapter if …

cost of examination -- Effect of employee's refusal -- Statement of earnings to be furnished at request of party. (1) After an injury and so long as compensation is claimed, the employee, if requested by a party or by the administrative law judge, shall submit himself or herself …

No limitation of time provided in this chapter shall run against any person who is mentally incompetent or who is a minor dependent so long as he has no committee, guardian or next friend, or other person authorized to claim compensation for him under KRS 342.160.

with respect to appointments. (1) The Governor shall make all appointments to the board, and appoint the administrative law judges of the Department of Workers' Claims, subject to the consent of the Senate in accordance with KRS 11.160, and in accordance with this section and KRS…

Qualifications -- Term -- Vacancies -- Retirement system coverage. (1) The Workers' Compensation Board is hereby created and established. The board shall rule on appeals of decisions rendered by administrative law judges under this chapter. The board shall rule on an appeal of a …

Each member of the board shall take the oath prescribed by Section 228 of the Constitution.

qualifications of commissioner. (1) The Department of Workers' Claims shall be responsible for administering claims and ensuring compliance with the insurance, self-insurance, and rehabilitation provisions in this chapter. The department shall be administered by a commissioner ap…

(1) The records of the Department of Workers' Claims, to the extent that they provide information personally identifying an individual alleging a work-related injury or occupational disease, shall not be open to the public but only to parties satisfying the commissioner of their …

commissioner -- Appointment, qualifications, terms, and duties of administrative law judges -- Exemption of administrative law judges from classified service -- Removal provisions -- Vacancies -- Chief administrative law judge. (1) The commissioner shall establish and fill any po…

The Education and Labor Cabinet shall report monthly to the Committee on Appropriations and Revenue its monthly expenditures of restricted agency funds and the nature of such expenditures. Separate reporting shall be done by each office within the Education and Labor Cabinet and …

pneumoconiosis fund, and the status of KRS Chapter 342. (1) The boards of directors of the following funds shall make quarterly reports according to generally accepted accounting principles of all money received and disbursed by the listed funds during each quarter to the Legisla…

The commissioner and employees or authorized representatives of the department shall, for traveling necessitated by the discharge of official duties, be reimbursed for transportation actually paid for, not exceeding the regular fare over the most direct route, and meals and lodgi…

The department shall maintain its main office in Frankfort, Kentucky, using suitable rooms and offices belonging to this state, and shall be provided necessary office furniture to be paid for by the state. The commissioner shall provide necessary supplies, books, periodicals, and…

All proceedings of the board and the administrative law judges shall be recorded in books kept for that purpose by the commissioner, which shall constitute a public record and shall contain an entry of each case, claim, or proceeding considered, heard or passed upon by each admin…

Adoption of life expectancy tables -- Processes and procedure -- Subpoenas -- Duties of sheriff and Circuit Court. (1) The commissioner shall promulgate administrative regulations as he or she considers necessary to carry on the work of the department and the work of the administ…

edition of "Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment" -- Approval of General Assembly required to effectuate. (1) The General Assembly hereby declares it to be the policy of the Commonwealth of Kentucky that the most recent and valid scientific and technological advanceme…

Lump-sum payments -- Reopening as remedy for disagreement -- Abatement of application for resolution. (1) If the employee and employer and special fund or any of them reach an agreement conforming to the provisions of this chapter in regard to compensation, a memorandum of the ag…

If an insurance carrier, self-insured group, or self-insured employer providing workers' compensation coverage engages in claims settlement practices in violation of this chapter, or the provisions of KRS 304.12-230, the commissioner of the Department of Workers' Claims shall fin…

administrative law judge -- Administrative regulations for procedures for resolution of claims. (1) If the parties fail to reach an agreement in regard to compensation under this chapter, either party may make written application for resolution of claim. The application must be f…

-- Deadline. (1) The commissioner shall promptly issue notice of the assignment of the claim to an administrative law judge, time for presentation of proof and of the time and place of a benefit review conference. The administrative law judge may confer informally with the partie…

(1) The commissioner shall establish a program to provide an opportunity for mediation of disputes as to the entitlement to benefits under this chapter. (2) The commissioner shall promulgate administrative regulations necessary to establish and implement the mediation program, wh…

(1) In accordance with administrative regulations promulgated by the commissioner, a collective bargaining agreement between an employer and a recognized or certified exclusive bargaining representative that contains the following provisions may be recognized as valid and binding…