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As Introduced
136th
General Assembly
Regular
Session
S. B. No. 241
2025-2026
Senator Patton
To
amend section 4123.512 of the Revised Code
to
impose a fine against an employer who appeals specified awards of
workers' compensation related to cancer incurred while performing
official duties as a firefighter if the employer loses the appeal.
BE
IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:
Section
1.
That
section 4123.512 of the Revised Code be amended to read as follows:
Sec.
4123.512.
(A)
The claimant or the employer may appeal an order of the industrial
commission made under division (E) of section 4123.511 of the Revised
Code in any injury or occupational disease case, other than a
decision as to the extent of disability to the court of common pleas
of the county in which the injury was inflicted or in which the
contract of employment was made if the injury occurred outside the
state, or in which the contract of employment was made if the
exposure occurred outside the state. If no common pleas court has
jurisdiction for the purposes of an appeal by the use of the
jurisdictional requirements described in this division, the appellant
may use the venue provisions in the Rules of Civil Procedure to vest
jurisdiction in a court. If the claim is for an occupational disease,
the appeal shall be to the court of common pleas of the county in
which the exposure which caused the disease occurred. Like appeal may
be taken from an order of a staff hearing officer made under division
(D) of section 4123.511 of the Revised Code from which the commission
has refused to hear an appeal. Except as otherwise provided in this
division, the appellant shall file the notice of appeal with a court
of common pleas within sixty days after the date of the receipt of
the order appealed from or the date of receipt of the order of the
commission refusing to hear an appeal of a staff hearing officer's
decision under division (D) of section 4123.511 of the Revised Code.
Either the claimant or the employer may file a notice of an intent to
settle the claim within thirty days after the date of the receipt of
the order appealed from or of the order of the commission refusing to
hear an appeal of a staff hearing officer's decision. The claimant or
employer shall file notice of intent to settle with the administrator
of workers' compensation, and the notice shall be served on the
opposing party and the party's representative. The filing of the
notice of intent to settle extends the time to file an appeal to one
hundred fifty days, unless the opposing party files an objection to
the notice of intent to settle within fourteen days after the date of
the receipt of the notice of intent to settle. The party shall file
the objection with the administrator, and the objection shall be
served on the party that filed the notice of intent to settle and the
party's representative. The filing of the notice of the appeal with
the court is the only act required to perfect the appeal.
If
an action has been commenced in a court of a county other than a
court of a county having jurisdiction over the action, the court,
upon notice by any party or upon its own motion, shall transfer the
action to a court of a county having jurisdiction.
Notwithstanding
anything to the contrary in this section, if the commission
determines under section 4123.522 of the Revised Code that an
employee, employer, or their respective representatives have not
received written notice of an order or decision which is appealable
to a court under this section and which grants relief pursuant to
section 4123.522 of the Revised Code, the party granted the relief
has sixty days from receipt of the order under section 4123.522 of
the Revised Code to file a notice of appeal under this section.
(B)
The notice of appeal shall state the names of the administrator of
workers' compensation, the claimant, and the employer; the number of
the claim; the date of the order appealed from; and the fact that the
appellant appeals therefrom.
The
administrator, the claimant, and the employer shall be parties to the
appeal and the court, upon the application of the commission, shall
make the commission a party. The party filing the appeal shall serve
a copy of the notice of appeal on the administrator at the central
office of the bureau of workers' compensation in Columbus. The
administrator shall notify the employer that if the employer fails to
become an active party to the appeal, then the administrator may act
on behalf of the employer and the results of the appeal could have an
adverse effect upon the employer's premium rates or may result in a
recovery from the employer if the employer is determined to be a
noncomplying employer under section 4123.75 of the Revised Code.
(C)
The attorney general or one or more of the attorney general's
assistants or special counsel designated by the attorney general
shall represent the administrator and the commission. In the event
the attorney general or the attorney general's designated assistants
or special counsel are absent, the administrator or the commission
shall select one or more of the attorneys in the employ of the
administrator or the commission as the administrator's attorney or
the commission's attorney in the appeal. Any attorney so employed
shall continue the representation during the entire period of the
appeal and in all hearings thereof except where the continued
representation becomes impractical.
(D)
Upon receipt of notice of appeal, the clerk of courts shall provide
notice to all parties who are appellees and to the commission.
The
claimant shall, within thirty days after the filing of the notice of
appeal, file a petition containing a statement of facts in ordinary
and concise language showing a cause of action to participate or to
continue to participate in the fund and setting forth the basis for
the jurisdiction of the court over the action. Further pleadings
shall be had in accordance with the Rules of Civil Procedure,
provided that service of summons on such petition shall not be
required and provided that the claimant may not dismiss the complaint
without the employer's consent if the employer is the party that
filed the notice of appeal to court pursuant to this section. The
clerk of the court shall, upon receipt thereof, transmit by certified
mail a copy thereof to each party named in the notice of appeal other
than the claimant. Any party may file with the clerk prior to the
trial of the action a deposition of any physician, certified
nurse-midwife, clinical nurse specialist, or certified nurse
practitioner taken in accordance with the provisions of the Revised
Code, which deposition may be read in the trial of the action even
though the physician or nurse is a resident of or subject to service
in the county in which the trial is had. The bureau of workers'
compensation shall pay the cost of the deposition filed in court and
of copies of the deposition for each party from the surplus fund and
charge the costs thereof against the unsuccessful party if the
claimant's right to participate or continue to participate is finally
sustained or established in the appeal. In the event the deposition
is taken and filed, the physician or nurse whose deposition is taken
is not required to respond to any subpoena issued in the trial of the
action. The court, or the jury under the instructions of the court,
if a jury is demanded, shall determine the right of the claimant to
participate or to continue to participate in the fund upon the
evidence adduced at the hearing of the action.
(E)
The court shall certify its decision to the commission and the
certificate shall be entered in the records of the court. Appeals
from the judgment are governed by the law applicable to the appeal of
civil actions.
(F)
(F)(1)
The cost of any legal proceedings authorized by this section,
including an attorney's fee to the claimant's attorney to be fixed by
the trial judge, based upon the effort expended, in the event the
claimant's right to participate or to continue to participate in the
fund is established upon the final determination of an appeal, shall
be taxed against the employer or the commission if the commission or
the administrator rather than the employer contested the right of the
claimant to participate in the fund. The attorney's fee shall not
exceed five thousand dollars
.
(2)
In addition to costs awarded under division (F)(1) of this section,
the trial judge shall assess a penalty of fifty thousand dollars
against an employer if both of the following apply:
(a)
The employer appealed an award for compensation or benefits for
cancer contracted by a firefighter in the course of hazardous duty
under division (X) of section 4123.68 of the Revised Code.
(b)
The claimant's award is upheld on the final determination of appeal.
(3)
The penalty assessed under division (F)(2) of this section shall be
paid to the claimant
.
(G)
If the finding of the court or the verdict of the jury is in favor of
the claimant's right to participate in the fund, the commission and
the administrator shall thereafter proceed in the matter of the claim
as if the judgment were the decision of the commission, subject to
the power of modification provided by section 4123.52 of the Revised
Code.
(H)(1)
An appeal from an order issued under division (E) of section 4123.511
of the Revised Code or any action filed in court in a case in which
an award of compensation or medical benefits has been made shall not
stay the payment of compensation or medical benefits under the award,
or payment for subsequent periods of total disability or medical
benefits during the pendency of the appeal. If, in a final
administrative or judicial action, it is determined that payments of
compensation or benefits, or both, made to or on behalf of a claimant
should not have been made, the amount thereof shall be charged to the
surplus fund account under division (B) of section 4123.34 of the
Revised Code. In the event the employer is a state risk, the amount
shall not be charged to the employer's experience, and the
administrator shall adjust the employer's account accordingly. In the
event the employer is a self-insuring employer, the self-insuring
employer shall deduct the amount from the paid compensation the
self-insuring employer reports to the administrator under division
(L) of section 4123.35 of the Revised Code. If an employer is a state
risk and has paid an assessment for a violation of a specific safety
requirement, and, in a final administrative or judicial action, it is
determined that the employer did not violate the specific safety
requirement, the administrator shall reimburse the employer from the
surplus fund account under division (B) of section 4123.34 of the
Revised Code for the amount of the assessment the employer paid for
the violation.
(2)(a)
Notwithstanding a final determination that payments of benefits made
to or on behalf of a claimant should not have been made, the
administrator or self-insuring employer shall award payment of
medical or vocational rehabilitation services submitted for payment
after the date of the final determination if all of the following
apply:
(i)
The services were approved and were rendered by the provider in good
faith prior to the date of the final determination.
(ii)
The services were payable under division (I) of section 4123.511 of
the Revised Code prior to the date of the final determination.
(iii)
The request for payment is submitted within the time limit set forth
in section 4123.52 of the Revised Code.
(b)
Payments made under division (H)(1) of this section shall be charged
to the surplus fund account under division (B) of section 4123.34 of
the Revised Code. If the employer of the employee who is the subject
of a claim described in division (H)(2)(a) of this section is a state
fund employer, the payments made under that division shall not be
charged to the employer's experience. If that employer is a
self-insuring employer, the self-insuring employer shall deduct the
amount from the paid compensation the self-insuring employer reports
to the administrator under division (L) of section 4123.35 of the
Revised Code.
(c)
Division (H)(2) of this section shall apply only to a claim under
this chapter or Chapter 4121., 4127., or 4131. of the Revised Code
arising on or after July 29, 2011.
(3)
A self-insuring employer may elect to pay compensation and benefits
under this section directly to an employee or an employee's
dependents by filing an application with the bureau of workers'
compensation not more than one hundred eighty days and not less than
ninety days before the first day of the employer's next six-month
coverage period. If the self-insuring employer timely files the
application, the application is effective on the first day of the
employer's next six-month coverage period, provided that the
administrator shall compute the employer's assessment for the surplus
fund account due with respect to the period during which that
application was filed without regard to the filing of the
application. On and after the effective date of the employer's
election, the self-insuring employer shall pay directly to an
employee or to an employee's dependents compensation and benefits
under this section regardless of the date of the injury or
occupational disease, and the employer shall receive no money or
credits from the surplus fund account on account of those payments
and shall not be required to pay any amounts into the surplus fund
account on account of this section. The election made under this
division is irrevocable.
(I)
All actions and proceedings under this section which are the subject
of an appeal to the court of common pleas or the court of appeals
shall be preferred over all other civil actions except election
causes, irrespective of position on the calendar.
This
section applies to all decisions of the commission or the
administrator on November 2, 1959, and all claims filed thereafter
are governed by sections 4123.511 and 4123.512 of the Revised Code.
Any
action pending in common pleas court or any other court on January 1,
1986, under this section is governed by former sections 4123.514,
4123.515, 4123.516, and 4123.519 and section 4123.522 of the Revised
Code.
Section
2.
That
existing section 4123.512 of the Revised Code is hereby repealed.