A bill

 

TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY AMENDING SECTION 42-9-10, RELATING TO AMOUNT OF COMPENSATION FOR TOTAL DISABILITY UNDER WORKERS' COMPENSATION LAW, SO AS TO INCREASE THE MINIMUM WEEKLY AMOUNT TO ONE HUNDRED FIFTY DOLLARS, and TO ESTABLISH A MECHANISM FOR PERIODIC INFLATION-BASED INCREASES.

 

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

 

SECTION 1.  Section 42-9-10 of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

 

    Section 42-9-10. (A) When the incapacity for work resulting from an injury is total, the employer shall pay, or cause to be paid, as provided in this chapter, to the injured employee during the total disability a weekly compensation equal to sixty-six and two-thirds percent of his average weekly wages, but not less than seventy-fiveone hundred fifty dollars a week, beginning July 1, 2027, so long as this amount does not exceed his average weekly salary; if this amount does exceed his average weekly salary, the injured employee may not be paid, each week, less than his average weekly salary. The injured employee may not be paid more each week than the average weekly wage in this State for the preceding fiscal year. In no case may the period covered by the compensation exceed five hundred weeks except as provided in subsection (C).

    (B) The loss of both hands, arms, shoulders, feet, legs, hips, or vision in both eyes, or any two thereof, constitutes total and permanent disability to be compensated according to the provisions of this section.

    (C) Notwithstanding the five-hundred-week limitation prescribed in this section or elsewhere in this title, any person determined to be totally and permanently disabled who as a result of a compensable injury is a paraplegic, a quadriplegic, or who has suffered physical brain damage is not subject to the five-hundred-week limitation and shall receive the benefits for life.

    (D) Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 42-9-301, no total lump sum payment may be ordered by the commission in any case under this section where the injured person is entitled to lifetime benefits.

    (E)(1) Before October 1, 2027, and every October first annually thereafter, the commission shall increase the minimum compensation rate for the succeeding calendar year by the same percentage as the annual increase to the state maximum average weekly wage as defined in Section 42-1-50. The Department of Employment and Workforce shall provide the commission, no later than August first annually, the data required for calculation of the percentage change.

    (2) The commission shall publish a notice of the adjusted minimum weekly compensation amount no later than January first of each year and publish the notice on its internet website.

    (3) The commission may by regulation adopt such rules as it considers necessary to implement the inflation adjustment provisions of this subsection.

 

SECTION 2.  This act takes effect July 1, 2027, and applies to injuries occurring on or after that date.

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