130th Ohio General Assembly
The online versions of legislation provided on this website are not official. Enrolled bills are the final version passed by the Ohio General Assembly and presented to the Governor for signature. The official version of acts signed by the Governor are available from the Secretary of State's Office in the Continental Plaza, 180 East Broad St., Columbus.

As Passed by the House

122nd General Assembly
Regular Session
1997-1998
Sub. H. B. No. 558

REPRESENTATIVES WISE-CATES-WESTON-MAIER-COUGHLIN-GARCIA- METELSKY-MALLORY-THOMAS-O'BRIEN-NETZLEY-JAMES-GRENDELL- HOUSEHOLDER-COLONNA-JACOBSON-PRINGLE-HEALY-BOYD-LUCAS-SULZER- HARRIS-HODGES-WACHTMANN-PATTON-HARTLEY-LOGAN-WILLIAMS- MOTTLEY-KRUPINSKI-KASPUTIS-DAMSCHRODER-STAPLETON-CAREY- REID-MYERS-TERWILLEGER-PADGETT-SALERNO-VERICH-SUTTON- TAVARES-MOTTL-VESPER-PERZ-FORD-SAWYER-YOUNG-OPFER-BEATTY- JONES-METZGER-JOHNSON-BENDER-KREBS-WOMER BENJAMIN-ALLEN- CLANCY-BATEMAN-CALLENDER-ROMAN-BUCHY-PRENTISS-WILSON- JERSE-MILLER-BRITTON-OLMAN-SCHULER


A BILL
To amend sections 4123.01 and 4123.46 of the Revised Code to provide workers' compensation coverage for off-duty peace officers, firefighters, and emergency medical technicians who are injured or killed while responding to an emergency situation and to require payment for those claims from the Workers' Compensation Surplus Fund rather than the State Insurance Fund.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:


Section 1. That sections 4123.01 and 4123.46 of the Revised Code be amended to read as follows:

Sec. 4123.01. As used in this chapter:

(A)(1) "Employee" means:

(a) Every person in the service of the state, or of any county, municipal corporation, township, or school district therein, including regular members of lawfully constituted police and fire departments of municipal corporations and townships, whether paid or volunteer, and wherever serving within the state or on temporary assignment outside thereof, and executive officers of boards of education, under any appointment or contract of hire, express or implied, oral or written, including any elected official of the state, or of any county, municipal corporation, or township, or members of boards of education;

AS USED IN DIVISION (A)(1)(a) OF THIS SECTION, THE TERM "REGULAR MEMBERS OF LAWFULLY CONSTITUTED POLICE AND FIRE DEPARTMENTS" INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING PERSONS WHEN THE PERSON IS REQUIRED TO RESPOND TO AN INHERENTLY DANGEROUS SITUATION THAT DEMANDS AN IMMEDIATE RESPONSE ON THE PART OF THE PERSON, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THE PERSON IS WITHIN THE LIMITS OF THE JURISDICTION OF THE PERSON'S REGULAR EMPLOYERWHEN RESPONDING:

(i) OFF-DUTY PEACE OFFICERS. AS USED IN DIVISION (A)(1)(a)(i) OF THIS SECTION, "PEACE OFFICER" MEANS A MEMBER OF THE ORGANIZED POLICE DEPARTMENT OF ANY MUNICIPAL CORPORATION, INCLUDING A MEMBER OF THE ORGANIZED POLICE DEPARTMENT OF A MUNICIPAL CORPORATION IN AN ADJOINING STATE SERVING IN OHIO UNDER A CONTRACT PURSUANT TO SECTION 737.04 OF THE REVISED CODE, MEMBER OF A POLICE FORCE EMPLOYED BY A METROPOLITAN HOUSING AUTHORITY UNDER DIVISION (D) OF SECTION 3735.31 OF THE REVISED CODE, MEMBER OF A POLICE FORCE EMPLOYED BY A REGIONAL TRANSIT AUTHORITY UNDER DIVISION (Y) OF SECTION 306.05 OF THE REVISED CODE, STATE UNIVERSITY LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER APPOINTED UNDER SECTION 3345.04 OF THE REVISED CODE, OHIO VETERANS' HOME POLICE OFFICER APPOINTED UNDER SECTION 5907.02 OF THE REVISED CODE, POLICE CONSTABLE OF ANY TOWNSHIP, POLICE OFFICER OF A TOWNSHIP OR JOINT TOWNSHIP POLICE DISTRICT, STATE HIGHWAY PATROL TROOPER, AND MEMBER OF A QUALIFIED NONPROFIT CORPORATION POLICE DEPARTMENT ESTABLISHED PURSUANT TO SECTION 1702.80 of the Revised Code.

AS USED IN DIVISION (A)(1)(a) OF THIS SECTIONWITH RESPECT TO OFF-DUTY PEACE OFFICERS, "JURISDICTION" MEANS THE LIMITS OF THE MUNICIPAL CORPORATION, TOWNSHIP, METROPOLITAN HOUSING AUTHORITY HOUSING PROJECT, REGIONAL TRANSIT AUTHORITY FACILITIES OR AREAS OF A MUNICIPAL CORPORATION THAT HAVE BEEN AGREED TO BY A REGIONAL TRANSIT AUTHORITY AND A MUNICIPAL CORPORATION LOCATED WITHIN ITS TERRITORIAL JURISDICTION, COLLEGE, UNIVERSITY, OR OHIO VETERANS' HOME IN WHICH THE PEACE OFFICER IS APPOINTED, EMPLOYED, OR ELECTED.

(ii) OFF-DUTY FIREFIGHTERS, WHETHER PAID OR VOLUNTEER, OF A LAWFULLY CONSTITUTED FIRE DEPARTMENT. AS USED IN DIVISION (A)(1)(a)OF THIS SECTION WITH RESPECT TO OFF-DUTY FIREFIGHTERS, "JURISDICTION" MEANS THE LIMITS OF THE POLITICAL SUBDIVISION, JOINT AMBULANCE DISTRICT, FIRE DISTRICT, OR JOINT FIRE DISTRICT IN WHICH THE FIREFIGHTER IS APPOINTED OR EMPLOYED.

(iii) OFF-DUTY FIRST RESPONDERS, EMERGENCY MEDICAL TECHNICIANS-BASIC, EMERGENCY MEDICAL TECHNICIANS-INTERMEDIATE, OR EMERGENCY MEDICAL TECHNICIANS-PARAMEDIC, WHETHER PAID OR VOLUNTEER, OF AN AMBULANCE SERVICE ORGANIZATION OR EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICE ORGANIZATION PURSUANT TO CHAPTER 4765. OF THE REVISED CODE. AS USED IN DIVISION (A)(1)(a)OF THIS SECTION WITH RESPECT TO OFF-DUTY FIRST RESPONDERS AND EMERGENCY MEDICAL TECHNICIANS, "JURISDICTION" MEANS THE LIMITS OF THE POLITICAL SUBDIVISION OR JOINT AMBULANCE DISTRICT IN WHICH THE FIRST RESPONDER OR EMERGENCY MEDICAL TECHNICIAN IS EMPLOYED AS A FIRST RESPONDER OR EMERGENCY MEDICAL TECHNICIAN.

(b) Every person in the service of any person, firm, or private corporation, including any public service corporation, that (i) employs one or more persons regularly in the same business or in or about the same establishment under any contract of hire, express or implied, oral or written, including aliens and minors, household workers who earn one hundred sixty dollars or more in cash in any calendar quarter from a single household and casual workers who earn one hundred sixty dollars or more in cash in any calendar quarter from a single employer, or (ii) is bound by any such contract of hire or by any other written contract, to pay into the state insurance fund the premiums provided by this chapter.

(c) Every person who performs labor or provides services pursuant to a construction contract, as defined in section 4123.79 of the Revised Code, if at least ten of the following criteria apply:

(i) The person is required to comply with instructions from the other contracting party regarding the manner or method of performing services;

(ii) The person is required by the other contracting party to have particular training;

(iii) The person's services are integrated into the regular functioning of the other contracting party;

(iv) The person is required to perform the work personally;

(v) The person is hired, supervised, or paid by the other contracting party;

(vi) A continuing relationship exists between the person and the other contracting party that contemplates continuing or recurring work even if the work is not full time;

(vii) The person's hours of work are established by the other contracting party;

(viii) The person is required to devote full time to the business of the other contracting party;

(ix) The person is required to perform the work on the premises of the other contracting party;

(x) The person is required to follow the order of work set by the other contracting party;

(xi) The person is required to make oral or written reports of progress to the other contracting party;

(xii) The person is paid for services on a regular basis such as hourly, weekly, or monthly;

(xiii) The person's expenses are paid for by the other contracting party;

(xiv) The person's tools and materials are furnished by the other contracting party;

(xv) The person is provided with the facilities used to perform services;

(xvi) The person does not realize a profit or suffer a loss as a result of the services provided;

(xvii) The person is not performing services for a number of employers at the same time;

(xviii) The person does not make the same services available to the general public;

(xix) The other contracting party has a right to discharge the person;

(xx) The person has the right to end the relationship with the other contracting party without incurring liability pursuant to an employment contract or agreement.

Every person in the service of any independent contractor or subcontractor who has failed to pay into the state insurance fund the amount of premium determined and fixed by the administrator of workers' compensation for the person's employment or occupation or if a self-insuring employer has failed to pay compensation and benefits directly to the employer's injured and to the dependents of the employer's killed employees as required by section 4123.35 of the Revised Code, shall be considered as the employee of the person who has entered into a contract, whether written or verbal, with such independent contractor unless such employees or their legal representatives or beneficiaries elect, after injury or death, to regard such independent contractor as the employer.

(2) "Employee" does not mean:

(a) A duly ordained, commissioned, or licensed minister or assistant or associate minister of a church in the exercise of ministry; or

(b) Any officer of a family farm corporation.

Any employer may elect to include as an "employee" within this chapter, any person excluded from the definition of "employee" pursuant to division (A)(2) of this section. If an employer is a partnership, sole proprietorship, or family farm corporation, such employer may elect to include as an "employee" within this chapter, any member of such partnership, the owner of the sole proprietorship, or the officers of the family farm corporation. In the event of an election, the employer shall serve upon the bureau of workers' compensation written notice naming the persons to be covered, include such employee's remuneration for premium purposes in all future payroll reports, and no person excluded from the definition of "employee" pursuant to division (A)(2) of this section, proprietor, or partner shall be deemed an employee within this division until the employer has served such notice.

For informational purposes only, the bureau shall prescribe such language as it considers appropriate, on such of its forms as it considers appropriate, to advise employers of their right to elect to include as an "employee" within this chapter a sole proprietor, any member of a partnership, the officers of a family farm corporation, or a person excluded from the definition of "employee" under division (A)(2)(a) of this section, that they should check any health and disability insurance policy, or other form of health and disability plan or contract, presently covering them, or the purchase of which they may be considering, to determine whether such policy, plan, or contract excludes benefits for illness or injury that they might have elected to have covered by workers' compensation.

(B) "Employer" means:

(1) The state, including state hospitals, each county, municipal corporation, township, school district, and hospital owned by a political subdivision or subdivisions other than the state;

(2) Every person, firm, and private corporation, including any public service corporation, that (a) has in service one or more employees regularly in the same business or in or about the same establishment under any contract of hire, express or implied, oral or written, or (b) is bound by any such contract of hire or by any other written contract, to pay into the insurance fund the premiums provided by this chapter.

All such employers are subject to this chapter. Any member of a firm or association, who regularly performs manual labor in or about a mine, factory, or other establishment, including a household establishment, shall be considered an employee in determining whether such person, firm, or private corporation, or public service corporation, has in its service, one or more employees and the employer shall report the income derived from such labor to the bureau as part of the payroll of such employer, and such member shall thereupon be entitled to all the benefits of an employee.

(C) "Injury" includes any injury, whether caused by external accidental means or accidental in character and result, received in the course of, and arising out of, the injured employee's employment. "Injury" does not include:

(1) Psychiatric conditions except where the conditions have arisen from an injury or occupational disease;

(2) Injury or disability caused primarily by the natural deterioration of tissue, an organ, or part of the body;

(3) Injury or disability incurred in voluntary participation in an employer-sponsored recreation or fitness activity if the employee signs a waiver of the employee's right to compensation or benefits under this chapter prior to engaging in the recreation or fitness activity.

(D) "Child" includes a posthumous child and a child legally adopted prior to the injury.

(E) "Family farm corporation" means a corporation founded for the purpose of farming agricultural land in which the majority of the voting stock is held by and the majority of the stockholders are persons or the spouse of persons related to each other within the fourth degree of kinship, according to the rules of the civil law, and at least one of the related persons is residing on or actively operating the farm, and none of whose stockholders are a corporation. A family farm corporation does not cease to qualify under this division where, by reason of any devise, bequest, or the operation of the laws of descent or distribution, the ownership of shares of voting stock is transferred to another person, as long as that person is within the degree of kinship stipulated in this division.

(F) "Occupational disease" means a disease contracted in the course of employment, which by its causes and the characteristics of its manifestation or the condition of the employment results in a hazard which distinguishes the employment in character from employment generally, and the employment creates a risk of contracting the disease in greater degree and in a different manner from the public in general.

(G) "Self-insuring employer" means any of the following categories of employers if granted the privilege of paying compensation and benefits directly under section 4123.35 of the Revised Code:

(1) Any employer mentioned in division (B)(2) of this section;

(2) A board of county hospital trustees;

(3) A publicly owned utility;

(4) A board of county commissioners for the sole purpose of constructing a sports facility as defined in section 307.696 of the Revised Code, provided that the electors of the county in which the sports facility is to be built have approved construction of a sports facility by ballot election no later than November 6, 1997.

Sec. 4123.46. The (A)(1) EXCEPT AS PROVIDED IN DIVISION (A)(2) OF THIS SECTION, THE bureau of workers' compensation shall disburse the state insurance fund to employees of employers who have paid into the fund the premiums applicable to the classes to which they belong when the employees have been injured in the course of their employment, wherever the injuries have occurred, and provided the injuries have not been purposely self-inflicted, or to the dependents of the employees in case death has ensued.

(2) THE BUREAU SHALL DISBURSE THE SURPLUS FUND CREATED UNDER SECTION 4123.34 OF THE REVISED CODE TO OFF-DUTY PEACE OFFICERS, FIREFIGHTERS, EMERGENCY MEDICAL TECHNICIANS, AND FIRST RESPONDERS WHO ARE INJURED WHILE RESPONDING TO INHERENTLY DANGEROUS SITUATIONS THAT DEMAND AN IMMEDIATE RESPONSE ON THE PART OF THE PERSON, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THE PERSON WAS WITHIN THE LIMITS OF THE PERSON'S JURISDICTION WHEN RESPONDING, PROVIDED THE INJURIES HAVE NOT BEEN PURPOSEFULLY SELF-INFLICTED, OR TO THE DEPENDENTS OF THE PERSON IN CASE DEATH HAS ENSUED.

AS USED IN DIVISION (A)(2) OF THIS SECTION, "PEACE OFFICER," "FIREFIGHTER," "EMERGENCY MEDICAL TECHNICIAN," "FIRST RESPONDER," AND "JURISDICTION" HAVE THE SAME MEANINGS AS IN SECTION 4123.01 of the Revised Code.

(B) All self-insuring employers, in compliance with this chapter, shall pay the compensation to injured employees, or to the dependents of employees who have been killed in the course of their employment, unless the injury or death of the employee was purposely self-inflicted, and shall furnish the medical, surgical, nurse, and hospital care and attention or funeral expenses as would have been paid and furnished by virtue of this chapter under a similar state of facts by the bureau out of the state insurance fund if the employer had paid the premium into the fund.

If any rule or regulation of a self-insuring employer provides for or authorizes the payment of greater compensation or more complete or extended medical care, nursing, surgical, and hospital attention, or funeral expenses to the injured employees, or to the dependents of the employees as may be killed, the employer shall pay to the employees, or to the dependents of employees killed, the amount of compensation and furnish the medical care, nursing, surgical, and hospital attention or funeral expenses provided by his THE SELF-INSURING EMPLOYER'S rules and regulations.

(C) Payment to injured employees, or to their dependents in case death has ensued, is in lieu of any and all rights of action against the employer of the injured or killed employees.


Section 2. That existing sections 4123.01 and 4123.46 of the Revised Code are hereby repealed.
Please send questions and comments to the Webmaster.
© 2024 Legislative Information Systems | Disclaimer