S.B. 162 Enrolled

LIMITATION ON WORKERS COMPENSATION COVERAGE
1999 GENERAL SESSION
STATE OF UTAH
Sponsor: Parley Hellewell
AN ACT RELATING TO LABOR; CREATING A REBUTTABLE PRESUMPTION THAT
MAJOR CONTRIBUTING CAUSE OF INJURY IS INTOXICATION; AND MAKING
TECHNICAL CHANGES.
This act affects sections of Utah Code Annotated 1953 as follows:
AMENDS:
34A-2-302, as renumbered and amended by Chapter 375, Laws of Utah 1997
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
Section 1. Section 34A-2-302 is amended to read:
34A-2-302. Employee's willful misconduct -- Penalty.
(1) An employee may not:
(a) remove, displace, damage, destroy, or carry away any safety device or safeguard
provided for use in any employment or place of employment[, or];
(b) interfere in any way with the use [thereof] of a safety device or safeguard described in
Subsection (1)(a) by any other person;
[(b)] (c) interfere with the use of any method or process adopted for the protection of any
employee in the employer's employment or place of employment; or
[(c)] (d) fail or neglect to follow and obey orders and to do every other thing reasonably
necessary to protect the life, health, and safety of employees.
(2) Except in case of injury resulting in death:
(a) [Compensation] compensation provided for by this chapter shall be reduced 15% when
injury is caused by the willful failure of the employee:
(i) to use safety devices when provided by the employer; or
(ii) to obey any order or reasonable rule adopted by the employer for the safety of the
employee[.]; and
(b) [Except] except when the employer permitted, encouraged, or had actual knowledge

of the conduct described in Subsection (2)(b)(i) through (iii), disability compensation may not be
awarded under this chapter or Title 34A, Chapter 3, Utah Occupational Disease Act, to an employee
when the major contributing cause of the employee's injury is the employee's:
(i) use of illegal substances;
(ii) intentional abuse of drugs in excess of prescribed therapeutic amounts; or
(iii) intoxication from alcohol with a blood or breath alcohol concentration of .08 grams or
greater as shown by a chemical test.
(3) (a) For purposes of Subsection (2), it is presumed that the major contributing cause of
the employee's injury is the employee's conduct described in Subsections (2)(b)(i) through (iii) if at
the time of the injury, as shown by a chemical test:
(i) the employee has in the employee's system:
(A) any amount of an illegal substance; or
(B) drugs in excess of prescribed therapeutic amounts; or
(ii) the employee has a blood or breath alcohol concentration of .08 grams or greater.
(b) The presumption created under Subsection (3)(a) may be rebutted by evidence showing
that:
(i) the chemical test creating the presumption is inaccurate;
(ii) the employee did not engage in the conduct described in Subsections (2)(b)(i) through
(iii);
(iii) a competent medical opinion from a physician verifies that a finding that the conduct
described in Subsections (2)(b)(i) through (iii) was the major contributing cause of the employee's
injury is not supported by the amount in the employee's system of:
(A) illegal substances;
(B) drugs in excess of prescribed therapeutic amounts;
(C) alcohol; or
(D) a combination of Subsections (3)(b)(iii)(A) through (C); or
(iv) the conduct described in Subsections (2)(b)(i) through (iii) was not the major
contributing cause of the employee's injury.

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(c) (i) Except as provided in Subsections (3)(c)(ii) and (iii), if a chemical test that creates the
presumption under Subsection (3)(a) is taken at the request of the employer, the employer shall
comply with:
(A) Title 34, Chapter 38, Drug and Alcohol Testing; or
(B) if the employee is a local governmental employee as defined in Section 34-41-101 , Title
34, Chapter 41, Local Governmental Entity Drug-Free Workplace Policies.
(ii) Notwithstanding Section 34-38-13 , the results of a test taken under Title 34, Chapter 38,
may be disclosed to the extent necessary to establish or rebut the presumption created under
Subsection (3)(a).
(iii) Notwithstanding Section 34-41-103 , the results of a test taken under Title 34, Chapter
41, may be disclosed to the extent necessary to establish or rebut the presumption created under
Subsection (3)(a).

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