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S.B. 162

             1     

LIMITATION ON WORKERS' COMPENSATION

             2     
COVERAGE

             3     
1999 GENERAL SESSION

             4     
STATE OF UTAH

             5     
Sponsor: Parley Hellewell

             6      AN ACT RELATING TO LABOR; CREATING A REBUTTABLE PRESUMPTION THAT
             7      MAJOR CONTRIBUTING CAUSE OF INJURY IS INTOXICATION; AND MAKING
             8      TECHNICAL CHANGES.
             9      This act affects sections of Utah Code Annotated 1953 as follows:
             10      AMENDS:
             11          34A-2-302, as renumbered and amended by Chapter 375, Laws of Utah 1997
             12      Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
             13          Section 1. Section 34A-2-302 is amended to read:
             14           34A-2-302. Employee's willful misconduct -- Penalty.
             15          (1) An employee may not:
             16          (a) remove, displace, damage, destroy, or carry away any safety device or safeguard
             17      provided for use in any employment or place of employment[, or];
             18          (b) interfere in any way with the use [thereof] of a safety device or safeguard described in
             19      Subsection (1)(a) by any other person;
             20          [(b)] (c) interfere with the use of any method or process adopted for the protection of any
             21      employee in the employer's employment or place of employment; or
             22          [(c)] (d) fail or neglect to follow and obey orders and to do every other thing reasonably
             23      necessary to protect the life, health, and safety of employees.
             24          (2) Except in case of injury resulting in death:
             25          (a) [Compensation] compensation provided for by this chapter shall be reduced 15% when
             26      injury is caused by the willful failure of the employee:
             27          (i) to use safety devices when provided by the employer; or


             28          (ii) to obey any order or reasonable rule adopted by the employer for the safety of the
             29      employee[.]; and
             30          (b) [Except] except when the employer permitted, encouraged, or had actual knowledge
             31      of the conduct described in Subsection (2)(b)(i) through (iii), disability compensation may not be
             32      awarded under this chapter or Title 34A, Chapter 3, Utah Occupational Disease Act, to an
             33      employee when the major contributing cause of the employee's injury is the employee's:
             34          (i) use of illegal substances;
             35          (ii) intentional abuse of drugs in excess of prescribed therapeutic amounts; or
             36          (iii) intoxication from alcohol with a blood or breath alcohol concentration of .08 grams
             37      or greater as shown by a chemical test.
             38          (3) (a) For purposes of Subsection (2), it is presumed that the major contributing cause of
             39      the employee's injury is the employee's conduct described in Subsections (2)(b)(i) through (iii) if
             40      at the time of the injury, as shown by a chemical test:
             41          (i) the employee has in the employee's system:
             42          (A) any amount of an illegal substance; or
             43          (B) drugs in excess of prescribed therapeutic amounts; or
             44          (ii) the employee has a blood or breath alcohol concentration of .08 grams or greater.
             45          (b) The presumption created under Subsection (3)(a) may be rebutted by evidence showing
             46      that:
             47          (i) the chemical test creating the presumption is inaccurate;
             48          (ii) the employee did not engage in the conduct described in Subsections (2)(b)(i) through
             49      (iii); or
             50          (iii) the conduct described in Subsections (2)(b)(i) through (iii) was not the major
             51      contributing cause of the employee's injury.
             52          (c) (i) Except as provided in Subsection (3)(c)(i), if a chemical test that creates the
             53      presumption under Subsection (3)(a) is taken at the request of the employer, the employer shall
             54      comply with Title 34, Chapter 38, Drug and Alcohol Testing.
             55          (ii) Notwithstanding Section 34-38-13 , the results of a test taken under Title 34, Chapter
             56      38, may be disclosed to the extent necessary to establish or rebut the presumption created under
             57      Subsection (3)(a).





Legislative Review Note
    as of 2-10-99 12:11 PM


A limited legal review of this legislation raises no obvious constitutional or statutory concerns.

Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel


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