STATE OF OKLAHOMA

1st Session of the 52nd Legislature (2009)

SENATE BILL 988	By:	Crain

AS INTRODUCED

An Act relating to workers' compensation; allowing certain requirements; limiting coverage; establishing resolution; providing codification; and providing an effective date.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1.     NEW LAW     A new section of law to be codified in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 3.12 of Title 85, unless there is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
A.  Notwithstanding any other provision of law, an employer who pays at least seventy-five per cent (75%) of an employee's health insurance premium for medical expenses may require the employee to seek resolution of a workers' compensation claim through mediation.
B.  An employer may require a covered employee to seek resolution of a workers’ compensation claim through mediation only if the annual health care deductible required to be paid by the employee does not exceed One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) and the co-pay does not exceed twenty percent (20%) of the charge for medical services.  The maximum annual out-of-pocket expense, not including any premium payment, for a covered employee shall not exceed Two Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($2,500.00).
C.  The employer shall not be required to provide health insurance coverage to the spouse or dependants of the employee in order to compel mediation in a workers' compensation claim.
D.  If the mediated claim is not resolved, it shall go before the district court, in the county where the injury occurred, for resolution.
E.  The district court shall use the workers' compensation fee schedule, found in Section 22 of Title 85 of the Oklahoma Statutes, when determining the claim.
F.  The court shall not allow for a jury trial in the resolution of a workers' compensation claim.
SECTION 2.     This act shall become effective November 1, 2009.

52-1-47	MRB	1/15/2009 2:02:33 PM