Title XXVII, Labor and Human Rights

Upon motion of either party and a sufficient showing of reason and necessity therefor, the board, if an appeal is taken, may continue in force the award, judgment, or order appealed from, pending its decision of such appeal, but to be suspended upon the execution by the adverse p…

Any party in interest may file in the Circuit Court of the county in which the injury occurred a certified copy of a memorandum of agreement approved by the administrative law judge, or of an order or decision of the administrative law judge or board, or of an award of the admini…

(1) If any administrative law judge, the board, or any court before whom any proceedings are brought under this chapter determines that such proceedings have been brought, prosecuted, or defended without reasonable ground, he or it may assess the whole cost of the proceedings whi…

Procedures -- Report -- Payment of costs -- Performance assessment of medical schools -- Use of telehealth. (1) For workers who have had injuries or occupational hearing loss, the commissioner shall contract with the University of Kentucky, the University of Louisville, and the U…

Claims procedure -- Administrative regulations -- Time limitations on claims -- Determination of liable employer -- Audit -- Amount of compensation -- Effect of concluded coal workers' pneumoconiosis claim. (1) (a) The employer liable for compensation for occupational disease sha…

disease claims. The provisions of KRS 342.316(4) shall apply to employees' asbestos-related disease claims filed on or after July 15, 1986.

on attorney's fees -- Payment of attorney fees -- Form indicating payment method selected -- Award by administrative law judge -- Fees for representing employers. (1) All fees of attorneys and physicians, and all charges of hospitals under this chapter, shall be subject to the ap…

administrative law judge. All questions arising under this chapter, if not settled by agreement of the parties interested therein, with the approval of the administrative law judge, shall be determined by the administrative law judge except as otherwise provided in this chapter.

Functions -- Ombudsman program -- Toll-free telephone access. (1) The Division of Ombudsman and Workers' Compensation Specialist Services shall be headed by a director appointed by the commissioner with the approval of the Governor, in accordance with KRS 12.050 and 342.230. The …

in receiving or providing services or benefits -- Penalties. (1) No person shall knowingly file, or permit to be filed, any false or fraudulent claim on his or her behalf to compensation or other benefits under this chapter, or by fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation procure or ca…

(1) Every employer under this chapter shall: (a) Insure and keep insured its liability for compensation in some corporation, association, or organization authorized to transact the business of workers' compensation insurance in this state; or (b) Furnish to the commissioner satis…

Annual report on financial soundness of self-insurers and self-insurance groups -- Division of Security and Compliance expansion. (1) Notwithstanding the provisions of KRS 342.340, KRS 342.350, or any administrative regulations promulgated pursuant to those provisions, the commis…

Effect of revocation. (1) Whenever an employer has complied with the provisions of KRS 342.340 relating to individual self-insurance, the commissioner shall issue to the employer a certificate which shall remain in force for a period fixed by the commissioner. But the commissione…

statement of financial condition -- Role of Department of Insurance. (1) The commissioner or the commissioner's designee shall have power to examine the financial condition and affairs related to workers' compensation of any individual self-insureds and shall have free access to …

for compensation claims -- Reinsurance -- Self-insured groups -- Power to contract, sue, and be sued. (Effective until July 15, 2027) (1) In order to comply with KRS 342.340, groups of employers may form, either among themselves or with employers in other states, mutual insurance…

compensation and group health insurance claims -- Twenty-four hour coverage. (1) The commissioner may establish one (1) or more programs for interested employers of integrated management of an employer's workers' compensation and group health insurance claims by an insurer author…

All policies insuring the payment of compensation under this chapter shall contain a clause to the effect that as between the employer and the insurer the notice to or knowledge of the occurrence of the injury on the part of the insured shall be considered notice or knowledge, as…

No policy of insurance against liability for compensation arising under this chapter shall be issued unless it contains the agreement of the insurer that it will promptly pay to the person entitled to it all benefits conferred by this chapter and all installments of the compensat…

plant or location may be authorized. Every policy or contract of workers' compensation insurance under this chapter, issued or delivered in this state, shall cover the entire liability of the employer for compensation to each employee subject to this chapter, except as otherwise …

Appeal. No policy of insurance or rider to be used therewith shall be issued or delivered until a copy of its form has been filed with the commissioner of the Department of Insurance at least thirty (30) days before such issue or delivery, unless before the expiration of thirty (…

(1) Any insurer authorized to write a policy of workers' compensation insurance shall transmit the following information on its workers' compensation experience only to the Department of Workers' Claims each year, and that information shall be certified and reported on a net basi…

Election to operate under this chapter if an employer is not mandatorily subject to the chapter shall be effected by the employer purchasing workers' compensation insurance or qualifying as a self insured. The proof of election shall be the proof of insurance coverage provided fo…

written notice of rejection -- Withdrawal of election. (1) Where an employer is subject to this chapter, then every employee of that employer, as a part of his or her contract of hiring or who may be employed at the time of the acceptance of the provisions of this chapter by the …

(1) All notices of rejection of the provisions of this chapter by employees shall, when executed, be preserved by the employer during the continuation of the employment of those employees whose names are subscribed thereto. (2) No person shall with fraudulent intent, willfully de…

The commissioner, upon showing a certification of noncompliance, may temporarily restrain or temporarily or permanently enjoin the further operation of any employer covered by this chapter. The action shall be brought in Franklin Circuit Court.

No agreement by any employee to pay any portion of the insurance premium paid by his employer shall be valid. No employer shall deduct any portion of such premium from the wages or salary of any employee entitled to the benefits of this chapter.

administrative law judges. Upon the request of the commissioner, the Attorney General, or, under his or her direction, the Commonwealth's attorney or county attorney of any county, shall institute and prosecute the necessary actions or proceedings for the enforcement of any of th…

The commissioner shall prepare and furnish, free of charge, blank forms of all notices, claims, reports, proofs, and other blank forms and literature which he or she considers proper and requisite to the efficient administration of this chapter. He or she may authorize the public…

Annually on or before the fifteenth day of December, the commissioner shall make a report to the Governor for the preceding fiscal year, which shall include a statement of the number of awards made and of claims rejected by the board and each administrative law judge, a general s…

assessments of Kentucky Reinsurance Association or Department of Revenue mandatory -- Audits to ensure compliance. (1) All funds collected by insurance companies from their insureds, prior to October 26, 1987, for assessments of the Kentucky Reinsurance Association or special fun…

and other taxes fall due or failure to pay tax -- Collection -- Attorney's fees. If any such insurance carrier withdraws from business in this state before the special fund assessments and other taxes required in this chapter fall due or fails to pay such tax, the funding commiss…

statement or return. No person shall act or assume to act in this state as agent for any such insurance carrier whose authority to do business in this state has been suspended, while such suspension remains in force. No person shall willfully make a false or fraudulent statement …

Whenever by this chapter any officer is required to give any notice to an insurance carrier, it may be given by delivery, or by mailing a registered letter properly addressed and stamped, to the principal office or chief agent of that insurance carrier within the state, or to its…

of liability if employee intended to kill or injure self or another -- Illegal substances -- Employer's intention to produce injury or death -- Builder's proof of coverage required for issuance of building permit -- Notice required to be posted by employers. (1) Every employer su…

The following shall constitute employers mandatorily subject to, and required to comply with, the provisions of this chapter: (1) Any person, other than one engaged solely in agriculture, that has in this state one (1) or more employees subject to this chapter. (2) The state, any…

The following shall constitute employees subject to the provisions of this chapter, except as exempted under KRS 342.650: (1) Every person, including a minor, whether lawfully or unlawfully employed, in the service of an employer under any contract of hire or apprenticeship, expr…

The following employees are exempt from the coverage of this chapter: (1) Any person employed as a domestic servant in a private home by an employer who has less than two (2) employees each regularly employed forty (40) or more hours a week in domestic servant employment; (2) Any…

(1) An employer that has in its employment any employee exempted under KRS 342.650 may elect to be subject to this chapter. This election on the part of the employer shall be made by the employer securing the payment of compensation to these exempted employees in accordance with …

(1) If an employee, while working outside the territorial limits of this state, suffers an injury on account of which the employee, or in the event of the employee's death, his or her dependents, would have been entitled to the benefits provided by this chapter had that injury oc…

testify. In any claim for compensation, where the employee has been killed, or is physically or mentally unable to testify as confirmed by competent medical evidence and where there is unrebutted prima facie evidence that indicates that the injury was work related, it shall be pr…

(1) If an employer secures payment of compensation as required by this chapter, the liability of such employer under this chapter shall be exclusive and in place of all other liability of such employer to the employee, his legal representative, husband or wife, parents, dependent…

rights of principal contractors, intermediates, and subcontractors -- Requirement of waiver of remedies for award of contract unlawful. (1) Whenever an injury for which compensation is payable under this chapter has been sustained under circumstances creating in some other person…

benefits. (1) One of the primary purposes of this chapter shall be restoration of the injured employee to gainful employment, and preference shall be given to returning the employee to employment with the same employer or to the same or similar employment. (2) The commissioner sh…

rehabilitation program. Notwithstanding the provisions of KRS 342.730, during the period the employee is eligible for permanent total disability benefits and is actively participating in a vocational or physical rehabilitation program, pursuant to an order of the administrative l…

Termination -- Offsets -- Notification of return to work -- Professional athletes. (1) Except as provided in KRS 342.732, income benefits for disability shall be paid to the employee as follows: (a) For temporary or permanent total disability, sixty-six and two-thirds percent (66…

administrative regulations -- Rebuttable presumption as to employer liability. (1) In all claims for occupational hearing loss caused by either a single incident of trauma or by repetitive exposure to hazardous noise over an extended period of employment, the extent of binaural h…