To amend sections 4123.01, 4123.026, and 4123.46 of the Revised Code to make peace officers, firefighters, and emergency medical workers diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder arising from employment without an accompanying physical injury eligible for compensation and benefits under Ohio's Workers' Compensation Law.

Section 1. That sections 4123.01, 4123.026, 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 "employee" includes the following persons when responding to an inherently dangerous situation that calls for 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 employment or voluntary service when responding, on the condition that the person responds to the situation as the person otherwise would if the person were on duty in the person's jurisdiction:

(i) Off-duty peace officers. As used in division (A)(1)(a)(i) of this section, "peace officer" has the same meaning as in section 2935.01 of the Revised Code.;

(ii) Off-duty firefighters, whether paid or volunteer, of a lawfully constituted fire department.;

(iii) Off-duty first responders, emergency medical technicians-basic, emergency medical technicians-intermediate, or emergency medical technicians-paramedic, whether paid or volunteer, emergency medical workers of an ambulance service organization or emergency medical service organization pursuant to Chapter 4765. of the Revised Code.

(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.

(d) Every person to whom all of the following apply:

(i) The person is a resident of a state other than this state and is covered by that other state's workers' compensation law;

(ii) The person performs labor or provides services for that person's employer while temporarily within this state;

(iii) The laws of that other state do not include the provisions described in division (H)(4) of section 4123.54 of the Revised Code.

(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;

(b) Any officer of a family farm corporation;

(c) An individual incorporated as a corporation; or

(d) An individual who otherwise is an employee of an employer but who signs the waiver and affidavit specified in section 4123.15 of the Revised Code on the condition that the administrator has granted a waiver and exception to the individual's employer under section 4123.15 of the Revised Code.

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, individual incorporated as a corporation, 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, the individual incorporated as a corporation, 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, individual incorporated as a corporation, 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, an individual incorporated as a corporation, the officers of a family farm corporation, or a person excluded from the definition of "employee" under division (A)(2) 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, professional employer organization as defined in section 4125.01 of the Revised Code, and private corporation, including any public service corporation, that (a) has in service one or more employees or shared 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 as follows:

(a) Where the claimant's psychiatric conditions have arisen from an injury or occupational disease sustained by that claimant or where;

(b) Where the claimant's psychiatric conditions have arisen from sexual conduct in which the claimant was forced by threat of physical harm to engage or participate;

(c) Where the claimant is a peace officer, firefighter, or emergency medical worker and is diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder that has arisen from the claimant's employment as a peace officer, firefighter, or emergency medical worker.

(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;

(4) A condition that pre-existed an injury unless that pre-existing condition is substantially aggravated by the injury. Such a substantial aggravation must be documented by objective diagnostic findings, objective clinical findings, or objective test results. Subjective complaints may be evidence of such a substantial aggravation. However, subjective complaints without objective diagnostic findings, objective clinical findings, or objective test results are insufficient to substantiate a substantial aggravation.

(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 an employer who is granted the privilege of paying compensation and benefits directly under section 4123.35 of the Revised Code, including 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.

(H) "Public employer" means an employer as defined in division (B)(1) of this section.

(I) "Sexual conduct" means vaginal intercourse between a male and female; anal intercourse, fellatio, and cunnilingus between persons regardless of gender; and, without privilege to do so, the insertion, however slight, of any part of the body or any instrument, apparatus, or other object into the vaginal or anal cavity of another. Penetration, however slight, is sufficient to complete vaginal or anal intercourse.

(J) "Other-states' insurer" means an insurance company that is authorized to provide workers' compensation insurance coverage in any of the states that permit employers to obtain insurance for workers' compensation claims through insurance companies.

(K) "Other-states' coverage" means insurance coverage purchased by an employer for workers' compensation claims that arise in a state or states other than this state and that are filed by the employees of the employer or those employee's dependents, as applicable, in that other state or those other states.

(L) "Peace officer" has the same meaning as in section 2935.01 of the Revised Code.

(M) "Firefighter" means a firefighter, whether paid or volunteer, of a lawfully constituted fire department.

(N) "Emergency medical worker" means a first responder, emergency medical technician-basic, emergency medical technician-intermediate, or emergency medical technician-paramedic, certified under Chapter 4765. of the Revised Code, whether paid or volunteer.

Sec. 4123.026. (A) The administrator of workers' compensation, or a self-insuring public employer for the peace officers, firefighters, and emergency medical workers employed by or volunteering for that self-insuring public employer, shall pay the costs of conducting post-exposure medical diagnostic services, consistent with the standards of medical care existing at the time of the exposure, to investigate whether an injury or occupational disease was sustained by a peace officer, firefighter, or emergency medical worker when coming into contact with the blood or other body fluid of another person in the course of and arising out of the peace officer's, firefighter's, or emergency medical worker's employment, or when responding to an inherently dangerous situation in the manner described in, and in accordance with the conditions specified under, division (A)(1)(a) of section 4123.01 of the Revised Code, through any of the following means:

(1)(A) Splash or spatter in the eye or mouth, including when received in the course of conducting mouth-to-mouth resuscitation;

(2)(B) A puncture in the skin;

(3)(C) A cut in the skin or another opening in the skin such as an open sore, wound, lesion, abrasion, or ulcer.

(B) As used in this section:

(1) "Peace officer" has the same meaning as in section 2935.01 of the Revised Code.

(2) "Firefighter" means a firefighter, whether paid or volunteer, of a lawfully constituted fire department.

(3) "Emergency medical worker" means a first responder, emergency medical technician-basic, emergency medical technician-intermediate, or emergency medical technician-paramedic, certified under Chapter 4765. of the Revised Code, whether paid or volunteer.

Sec. 4123.46.  (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) As long as injuries have not been purposely self-inflicted, the bureau shall disburse the surplus fund created under section 4123.34 of the Revised Code to off-duty peace officers, firefighters, and emergency medical technicians, and first responders workers, or to their dependents if death ensues, who are injured while responding to inherently dangerous situations that call for 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, on the condition that the person responds to the situation as the person otherwise would if the person were on duty in the person's jurisdiction.

As used in division (A)(2) of this section, "peace officer," "firefighter," and "emergency medical technician," "first responder worker," 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 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, 4123.026, and 4123.46 of the Revised Code are hereby repealed.