Workers' Compensation Law Summaries

Workers' Compensation Law Summaries

Kansas, Workers' Compensation Law Summaries

Kansas' workers' compensation law is located in the Kansas Statutes at Ch. 44, Arst. 5 and 5a.

COVERAGE

Coverage under Kansas' workers' compensation law is compulsory for all private employment within the state (Sec. 44-505). Partners, individuals and the self-employed may elect coverage (Sec. 44-542a). Occupational disease are treated as injuries (Sec. 44-5a01 et seq ).

Coverage for all public employees is also compulsory, including persons serving on a volunteer basis as law enforcement officers, ambulance drivers, emergency medical technicians and firefighters (Secs. 44-505, 44-505b-505f and 44-508).

EXCEPTIONS

Farm labor, employers whose gross annual payroll is not more than $20,000, firefighters who are statutorily excepted from the law, real estate agents acting as independent contractors on a commission basis and construction design professionals performing services at a construction site are excepted from the workers' compensation law in Kansas, but may elect coverage (Secs. 44-505 and 505d). An owner operator who is the exclusive driver of a motor vehicle contracted to a licensed motor carrier is not an employee of the motor carrier (Sec. 44-503c).

WHAT THE EMPLOYER MUST DO

Insurance choices.- Employers must self-insure, purchase insurance from a private insurance carrier or maintain membership in a group-funded insurance pool (Sec. 44-532).

Waiting period.- If a temporary total disability results from an injury, no compensation is paid during the first week of disability, except for medical and disability benefits, unless the temporary total disability exists for three consecutive weeks, in which case compensation is paid for the first week of such disability (Sec. 44-510c (b)(1)).

Choice of physician.- If an injured employee objects to the medical treatment furnished by the employer, the Director of the Workers' Compensation Division may authorize the appointment of a different health care provider. In such a case, the employer submits the names of three health care providers that are not associated in practice together. The employee may select any one of the three to be the authorized health care provider. If the injured employee is unable to obtain satisfactory services from any of the health care providers submitted by the employer, either party or both parties may ask the director to select a treating health care provider.

Without asking or obtaining approval, an employee may choose a health care provider and submit the charges and fees to the employer for payment. However, if the fees and charges are for examinations, diagnosis or treatment, they cannot exceed a total of $500 (Sec. 44-510h).

Offset provisions.- No compensation is paid for temporary total or temporary partial disability under Kansas' workers' compensation law for any week that an employee is receiving unemployment compensation benefits under the state unemployment security law, the unemployment compensation law of another state or a federal unemployment compensation law.

Drug and alcohol use.- The employer is not liable for compensation when an employee's injury or death was substantially caused by the employee's use of any drugs, chemicals or any other compounds or substances, including narcotic drugs, marijuana, stimulants, depressants or hallucinogens. In the case of drugs or medications that are available to the public without a prescription from a health care provider and prescription drugs or medications, compensation will not be denied if the employee can show that the drugs or medications were being taken or used in therapeutic doses and there were no prior incidents of the employee's impairment on the job as a result of the use of the drugs or medications in the previous 24 months (Sec. 44-501).

There is a presumption of impairment from alcohol consumption if the employee had an alcohol concentration of .04 or more, or a GCMS confirmatory test by quantitative analysis showing a concentration at or above the levels permitted by law. The employee's refusal to submit to chemical testing is not admissible evidence of impairment unless there was probable cause to believe that the employee used, possessed or was impaired by a drug or alcohol while working (Sec. 44-501).

NOTICE

Notice must be given to the employer within 10 days of an injury; failure of notice is excusable (Sec. 44-520).

The employer or carrier must notify the care or treatment provider within 30 days of receiving a bill giving the specific reason for refusing or adjusting the payment (Sec. 44-510j).

Employers must notify the director concerning how compensation has been secured (Sec. 44-532).

PENALTIES

Whenever an administrative law judge or the board finds that there was not just cause for the employer or insurance carrier to fail to pay the compensation claimed, the employee is entitled to interest on the unpaid disability compensation (Sec. 44-512b).

The employee's right to payment of compensation is suspended during a period of refusal to submit to or an obstruction of an examination. If proceedings are pending at the time of the refusal or obstruction, they will be dismissed (Sec. 44-518).

Monetary penalties for fraudulent or abusive acts or practices of not more than $2,000 will be assessed, subject to a one year aggregate maximum of $20,000. Repayment of the amount involved in the unlawful act or practice, plus interest, can also be assessed (Sec. 44-5,120).

CONTACTS

Division of Workers' Compensation, 800 SW Jackson, 7th Floor, Topeka, KS 66612-1227, 785-296-2996.