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Current Status Bill Number:View additional legislative information at the LPITS web site.4001 Type of Legislation:General Bill GB Introducing Body:House Introduced Date:20010424 Primary Sponsor:Robinson All Sponsors:Robinson, Rice and Trotter Drafted Document Number:l:\council\bills\skb\18425sd01.doc Residing Body:House Current Committee:Labor, Commerce and Industry Committee 26 HLCI Subject:Workers' Compensation, injury by accident defined for compensable purposes History Body Date Action Description Com Leg Involved ______ ________ ______________________________________ _______ ____________ House 20010424 Introduced, read first time, 26 HLCI referred to Committee Versions of This Bill
TO AMEND SECTION 42-1-160, AS AMENDED, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO THE DEFINITION OF "INJURY" AND "PERSONAL INJURY" FOR PURPOSES OF THE WORKERS' COMPENSATION LAW, SO AS TO CONFORM THESE DEFINITIONS TO THE PROVISIONS OF SECTION 42-1-161, AND TO AMEND THE 1976 CODE BY ADDING SECTION 42-1-161 SO AS TO PROVIDE THE CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH CERTAIN EMPLOYMENT RELATED INJURIES, PERSONAL INJURIES, OR DISEASES RESULTING FROM A SERIES OF EVENTS OF A LIKE NATURE OVER CONTINUOUS INTERVALS SHALL BE COMPENSABLE AS AN "INJURY BY ACCIDENT".
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
SECTION 1. Section 42-1-160, as amended by Act 424 of 1996, of the 1976 Code is further amended to read:
"Section 42-1-160. Except as provided in Section 42-1-161, 'injury' and 'personal injury' shall mean only injury by accident arising out of and in the course of the employment and shall not include a disease in any form, except when it results naturally and unavoidably from the accident and except such those diseases as are compensable under the provisions of Chapter 11 of this title. In construing this section an accident arising out of and in the course of employment shall include employment of an employee of a municipality outside the corporate limits of the municipality when the employment was ordered by a duly authorized employee of the municipality.
Stress arising out of and in the course of employment unaccompanied by physical injury and resulting in mental illness or injury is not a personal injury unless it is established that the stressful employment conditions causing the mental injury were extraordinary and unusual in comparison to the normal conditions of the employment.
Stress arising out of and in the course of employment unaccompanied by physical injury is not considered compensable if it results from any event or series of events which is incidental to normal employer/employee relations including, but not limited to, personnel actions by the employer such as disciplinary actions, work evaluations, transfers, promotions, demotions, salary reviews, or terminations, except when these actions are taken in an extraordinary and unusual manner."
SECTION. 2. The 1976 Code is amended by adding:
"Section 42-1-161. Where an injury, personal injury, or disease results from a series of events in employment of a similar or like nature which occur regularly, continuously, or at frequent intervals in the course of the employment and over extended periods of time, whether the events may or may not be attributable to fault of the employer, the disease attributable to these causes shall be compensable as an injury by accident only if:
(1) the injury, personal injury, or disease arises out of and in the course of employment;
(2) the injury, personal injury, or disease is due to hazards in excess of those ordinarily incident to employment, and is peculiar to the particular occupation in which the employee is engaged; and
(3) the injury, personal injury, or disease is caused by a hazard recognized as peculiar to a particular trade, process, occupation, or employment as a direct result of continuous exposure to the normal working conditions thereof."
SECTION 3. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.
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