Title 65.2, Title 65.2. Workers' Compensation

A claim for workers' compensation benefits shall be deemed to be in the course of employment with the Virginia National Guard or Virginia Defense Force for any member thereof who, reacting to an order to report received while he is outside an assigned shift or work location, unde…

A. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, if the Governor declares a state of emergency pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 3.2 (§ 44-146.13 et seq.) of Title 44, or any local director of emergency management with the consent of the appropriate local governing body declare…

In any claim for compensation, where the employee (i) is physically or mentally unable to testify as confirmed by competent medical evidence, (ii) dies with there being no evidence that he ever regained consciousness after the accident, (iii) dies at the accident location or near…

A. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any individual who receives training at a criminal justice training academy established pursuant to Article 5 (§ 15.2-1747 et seq.) of Chapter 17 of Title 15.2 shall not be deemed an employee of the criminal justice training academy.…

A. As used in this section: "Anxiety disorder" means a disorder that meets the diagnostic criteria for one or more of the anxiety disorders specified in the most recent edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders published by the American Psychiatric Asso…

A. The Industrial Commission of Virginia is continued and shall hereafter be known as the Virginia Workers' Compensation Commission. All powers and duties conferred and imposed upon the Industrial Commission by any other law are hereby conferred upon and vested in the Virginia Wo…

A. It shall be the duty of the Commission to administer this title and adjudicate issues and controversies relating thereto. In all matters within the jurisdiction of the Commission, it shall have the power of a court of record to administer oath, to compel the attendance of witn…

A. The Commission or any member or deputy commissioner shall have authority to enforce the attendance of all parties in interest and of witnesses and the production and examination of books, papers and records and to punish for contempt or disobedience of its orders as is vested …

A. Deputy commissioners shall have the power to subpoena witnesses, administer oaths, take testimony and hear the parties at issue and their representatives and witnesses, decide the issues in a summary manner, and make an award carrying out the decision. Deputies may exercise ot…

A. The Commission shall be provided with adequate offices in the Capitol or in some other suitable building in the Commonwealth, in which the records shall be kept and its official business transacted during regular business hours. The Commission shall also be provided with neces…

A. The Commission may create an Ombudsman program and appoint an ombudsman to administer such program. The purpose of the Ombudsman program shall be to provide neutral educational information and assistance to persons who are not represented by an attorney, including those person…

A. Every employer and employee, except as herein stated, shall be conclusively presumed to have accepted the provisions of this title respectively to pay and accept compensation for personal injury or death by accident arising out of and in the course of the employment and shall …

A. Any employee who, in the course of employment, is sexually assaulted, as defined in §§ 18.2-61, 18.2-67.1, 18.2-67.3, or § 18.2-67.4, and promptly reports the assault to the appropriate law-enforcement authority, where the nature of such employment substantially increases the …

In situations where weather constitutes a particular risk of a public safety officer's employment and where the public safety officer's injury arose out of and in the course of his employment, absent a misconduct defense asserted pursuant to § 65.2-306, such injury shall be compe…

A. For the purposes of this section, the terms "communicable disease of public health threat," "disaster," and "state of emergency" have the same meaning as provided in § 44-146.16. B. In any proceeding under the provisions of this title, a hiring party providing an individual wi…

A. When any person (referred to in this section as "owner") undertakes to perform or execute any work which is a part of his trade, business or occupation and contracts with any other person (referred to in this section as "subcontractor") for the execution or performance by or u…

A. Nothing in §§ 65.2-302 and 65.2-304 shall be construed as preventing a worker from recovering compensation under this title from a subcontractor (as described in § 65.2-302) instead of from the principal contractor (as described in § 65.2-302) but he shall not collect from bot…

When the principal contractor is liable to pay compensation under § 65.2-302 or § 65.2-303, he shall be entitled to indemnity from any person who would have been liable to pay compensation to the worker independently of such sections or from an intermediate contractor and shall h…

A. Those employers not subject to this title may, by complying with the provisions of this title and the applicable rules of the Commission, voluntarily elect to be bound by it as to accidents or occupational diseases or both. B. Every employer taking out a workers' compensation …

A. No compensation shall be awarded to the employee or his dependents for an injury or death caused by: 1. The employee's willful misconduct or intentional self-inflicted injury; 2. The employee's attempt to injure another; 3. The employee's intoxication; 4. The employee's willfu…

A. The rights and remedies herein granted to an employee when his employer and he have accepted the provisions of this title respectively to pay and accept compensation on account of injury or death by accident shall exclude all other rights and remedies of such employee, his per…

A. No employer or person shall discharge an employee solely because the employee intends to file or has filed a claim under this title or has testified or is about to testify in any proceeding under this title. The discharge of a person who has filed a fraudulent claim is not a v…

A. A claim against an employer under this title for injury, occupational disease, or death benefits shall create a lien on behalf of the employer against any verdict or settlement arising from any right to recover damages which the injured employee, his personal representative or…

A. A claim against an employer under this title for injury or death benefits shall create a lien and right of subrogation on behalf of the employer, as set forth in § 65.2-309, against proceeds recovered by the injured employee pursuant to the uninsured or underinsured motorist p…

In any action by an employee, his personal representative or other person against any person other than the employer, the court shall, after reasonable notice to the parties and the employer, ascertain the amount of compensation paid and expenses for medical, surgical and hospita…

A. Except as provided in subsection B, in any action, or claim for damages, by an employee, his personal representative or other person against any person other than the employer, and in any such action brought, or claim asserted, by the employer under his right of subrogation pr…

A. It shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly make, file or use any writing or document knowing the same to contain any materially false, fictitious or fraudulent statement or entry in connection with an award under this title. It shall also be unlawful for any person to ai…

A. In any action or claim for damages by an employee, his personal representative or other person against any person other than the employer under § 65.2-310, or in any action brought, or claim asserted, by the employer under his right of subrogation provided for in § 65.2-309, i…

A. As used in this title, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the term "occupational disease" means a disease arising out of and in the course of employment, but not an ordinary disease of life to which the general public is exposed outside of the employment. B. A dis…

An ordinary disease of life to which the general public is exposed outside of the employment may be treated as an occupational disease for purposes of this title if each of the following elements is established by clear and convincing evidence, (not a mere probability): 1. That t…

A. Respiratory diseases that cause (i) the death of volunteer or salaried firefighters or Department of Emergency Management hazardous materials officers or (ii) any health condition or impairment of such firefighters or Department of Emergency Management hazardous materials offi…

A. Hepatitis, meningococcal meningitis, tuberculosis or HIV causing the death of, or any health condition or impairment resulting in total or partial disability of, any (i) salaried or volunteer firefighter, or salaried or volunteer emergency medical services personnel; (ii) memb…

A. When the employer and employee are subject to the provisions of this title, first communication of the diagnosis of an occupational disease to the employee or death of the employee resulting from an occupational disease as herein listed and defined shall be treated as the happ…

A. When an employee has an occupational disease that is covered by this title, the employer in whose employment he was last injuriously exposed to the hazards of the disease and the employer's insurance carrier, if any, at the time of the exposure, shall alone be liable therefor,…

A. Within sixty days after a diagnosis of an occupational disease is first communicated to the employee, he, or someone in his behalf, shall give written notice thereof to the employer in accordance with § 65.2-600, but in no case shall the failure to give notice deprive the empl…

A. The right to compensation under this chapter shall be forever barred unless a claim is filed with the Commission within one of the following time periods: 1. For coal miners' pneumoconiosis, three years after a diagnosis of the disease, as category 1/0 or greater as classified…

A. When an employee or prospective employee, though not incapacitated for work, is found to be affected by, or susceptible to, a specific occupational disease he may, subject to the approval of the Commission, be permitted to waive in writing compensation for any aggravation of h…

A. Except as provided in subsections E, F and G, when the incapacity for work resulting from the injury is total, the employer shall pay, or cause to be paid, as hereinafter provided, to the injured employee during such total incapacity, a weekly compensation equal to 66 2/3 perc…

After compensation has been paid as provided in § 65.2-503, the employee may, within one year from the date compensation was last due under this section, file an application for compensation for incapacity to work, subject to the provisions of §§ 65.2-500 and 65.2-502. Such appli…

A. Except as otherwise provided in § 65.2-503 or 65.2-510, or as provided in subsections B, C and D, when the incapacity for work resulting from the injury is partial, the employer shall pay, or cause to be paid, as hereinafter provided, to the injured employee during such incapa…

A. Compensation for permanent partial and permanent total loss and disfigurement shall be awarded as provided in this section. B. The following losses shall be compensated for the period specified at the rate of 66 2/3 percent of the average weekly wage as defined in § 65.2-101: …

A. An employee eligible for an award for coal worker's pneumoconiosis benefits shall be compensated according to the following schedule: 1. For first stage coal worker's pneumoconiosis medically determined from radiographic evidence and classified under the current International …

A. Except for hearing or vision loss that has not reached a compensable level of disability, if an employee has a permanent disability or has sustained a permanent injury in service in the armed forces of the United States or in another employment other than that in which he rece…

If an employee receives an injury for which compensation is payable while he is still receiving or entitled to compensation for a previous injury in the same employment, he shall not at the same time be entitled to compensation for both injuries, but if he is, at the time of the …

If an employee receives a permanent injury as specified in § 65.2-503, after having sustained another permanent injury in the same employment, he shall be entitled to compensation for both injuries, but the total compensation shall be paid by extending the period and not by incre…

A. When an accident happens while the employee is employed elsewhere than in this Commonwealth which would entitle him or his dependents to compensation if it had happened in this Commonwealth, the employee or his dependents shall be entitled to compensation, if: 1. The contract …